


Fire Kindled With Snow

by flowersheep



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 03:07:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 55,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2213493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersheep/pseuds/flowersheep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After dragons start turning up dead near the Albion Mountain Ski Resort Merlin is sent to investigate the cause under the cover of being a new ski instructor. He’s pretty sure he can handle it until he meets his roommate for the duration, Arthur Pendragon, who is distractingly attractive and, unfortunately, a massive prat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire Kindled With Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Well this was certainly an experience. And I mean that in the best way possible. Kind of. Now I'm just gonna go curl up and watch mindless tv for the next six months. No but really, despite all the last minute stress I put myself through it's been fun and I'm so grateful for the mods at ACBB for hosting this thing. You guys rock.
> 
> All the love to my artist, you basically made all my dreams come true when you told me you picked my story because you wanted to draw dragons because dragons are the whole reason I started writing this thing.
> 
> Eternal thanks to my beta, who is the most amazing person in the world for taking the mess I sent her and turning it into something coherent. Seriously, this fic would make no sense whatsoever without her intervention.
> 
> Apologies for any remaining mistakes and misuse of British English.
> 
>  
> 
> [Art post.](http://finem.livejournal.com/119911.html)

It was with a great deal of irritation that Merlin arrived at the Welsh Dragon Reserve, ditching class with an ambiguous email to his professors about a family emergency that amounted to a vague and insistent call from his father that he return home right now and not a moment later. Merlin had left London on the first available train, seething. Time had settled his temper some, but not enough to keep him from slamming open the front door of his home. The act had his mother poking her head out of the kitchen to give him a stern glare. Merlin wilted under that glare, regretting every instance of door slamming in his life. 

“Sorry,” he said, taking care to be extra gentle about closing the door. His mum only sighed. 

“Hungry dear?” she asked. Right on cue his stomach growled. “Come on, I’ve got some sandwiches in the kitchen.” Merlin dumped his bag in the entryway and went through to the kitchen. He’d left campus in such a rush that morning that grabbing breakfast had completely slipped his mind. Within minutes he’d devoured one sandwich and was starting on another as his mum placed a glass of orange juice in front of him.

"So where's dad?" Merlin asked, after scarfing down a second sandwich and downing the orange juice.

"He's about," his mum replied. 

“So, what, he just yanks me out of uni, taking extra care to tell me how urgent whatever he needs me for is and he doesn’t even have the decency to be here when I show up?” Merlin grumbled. 

His mother sent him a withering look. “He’s not doing this on purpose, Merlin, and you know it. Your father wants you to get your degree. We talked about this when you made a decision to go to uni over doing an apprenticeship with your uncle. You have responsibilities as a Dragonlord that have to come first.”

“I know, I know,” Merlin said. “It’s been a long week. I’m just...tired.” He grabbed another sandwich and started nibbling on it. “Do you happen to know what this is about?” 

“We received a phone call last night about some trouble concerning a flight,” she said. “Balinor thought this would be a good opportunity for you to get some experience handling this sort of situation.”

Merlin froze, sandwich poised just in front of his mouth. “By myself?” he asked, just to be sure. “Without supervision?” His mum’s smile was just a smidgen smug. 

Merlin wasn’t necessarily happy with being pulled away from his studies now, but he was feeling much better about it. There were flights of dragons all over the world, a flight being of the vague definition that a bunch of dragons shared the same territory without killing each other. It was the responsibility of the Dragonlords to look after these flights. With civilization pushing further and further into natural habitats the task was even more important. Housing developments built too close to dragon territory would invite attacks and all kinds of trouble. In addition, dragon poaching was a popular activity among those who still knew of the dragons' existence. Despite their best efforts, the number of dragons had been steadily declining for some time. Merlin had been on a number of assignments with his dad and other Dragonlords that involved things like moving flights to new territories where they were less likely to burn people to a crisp while defending their territory or strengthening wards that kept people from stumbling on things best kept from the general public for the time being. 

It was all a bit Harry Potter. Two hundred years ago at the height of the last great witch hunts those sorcerers who had managed to avoid the pyres came to an agreement that magic was best removed from the public eye for a time. As far as the general population of today was concerned, the last sorcerers had all burned in the great witch hunts and magical creatures had died out not long after. In reality, they'd retreated from the public eye in a bid to protect themselves. Places like the Welsh Dragon Reserve where Merlin had been born and raised had appeared behind enchantments meant to keep unsuspecting people from discovering them. They hadn't formed their own government or anything like that. What did exist was a network to facilitate communication and information sharing between factions of magic users and the government, as well as orchestrate cover ups for incidents that would otherwise have exposed them to the general public. This network was made up of representatives from the different factions, generally in a position of leadership. Merlin's dad, who was considered to be one of the most prominent figures among the Dragonlords, was a part of it. 

That wasn’t to say there weren’t people who knew. Despite the sorcerers’ best efforts, there was still a roaring black market trade in things like dragon organs and unicorn horns and underground alchemy shops, if you knew the right place to look. There were still entire communities that followed the old ways and people that were brought into the know on complete accident. They didn’t separate themselves from the general masses and they never intended to. All they wanted was to live in peace without fear of being oppressed or exploited or even executed for who they were. Merlin understood the reason behind it, but he couldn’t help being of the opinion that hiding away wasn’t doing the magical community any good.

  
___________________  


Merlin didn't actually see his dad until dinner. Something about an argument between a couple of adolescent dragons, according to one of the Dragonlords, who'd stopped by the house just long enough to ruffle Merlin's hair in the same way he'd done since Merlin was five and steal a tin of fudge from the fridge while Hunith's back was turned. Not that she was fooled.

"Over two decades I've lived here and they still think I don't know," she'd mumbled.

With the entire afternoon ahead of him and plenty of chores to distract him, courtesy of his mother, Merlin found his irritation dissipating. He missed the reserve. It was where he'd grown up. His childhood had been spent in the very walls of this house and on the sprawling property of the reserve where his favorite playmates had been young dragons. He definitely didn't get back often enough. And really, it was hard to be upset when his mother was plying him with homemade baked goods.

Unfortunately, in the hour before dinner, Merlin took the time to check his email and read the responses from his professors and some of the annoyance from that morning returned. It basically amounted to exasperation, as this was not the first time a ‘family emergency’ had pulled Merlin away from his studies. In particular, his advisor had told him, “You are one of the best student I have ever seen come through our vet program, Merlin, but you do actually have to show up for classes in order to pass them.”

“I’m not saying I don’t understand my other responsibilities,” Merlin said as he helped clear the dishes. “I’m just saying it would be nice to go one semester without missing half my classes.”

“You’ve never missed half your classes,” his dad protested.

“That’s not the point.”

“Look, Merlin, I’m not going to deny it would be a lot easier if you’d stayed here at the reserve and just done an apprenticeship with Gaius,” his dad said. “But I know you have very strong reasons for wanting a degree from a university and I respect that.”

“Couldn’t you have asked someone else to take care of whatever the problem is?” 

“Yes. But out of all the Dragonlords at my disposal to send on this assignment I felt you were the best fit. Not to mention, it’s about time you got some experience taking care of things by yourself.”

Merlin couldn’t really argue with that.

“You don’t have to go if you’d really rather finish out the semester,” his dad said. “I would never force you.”

“No, it’s fine,” Merlin said, starting to feel bad. “I’m sorry.”

“You have a lot on your plate. I’ll make some tea and then we can discuss the situation.” While he set about that, Merlin wandered into the living room and watched as his mother set herself up in a corner with her laptop.

“Time to go over finances,” she said when she saw him looking. The next few minutes passed in comfortable silence as Merlin fiddled absently with the fringe of one of the couch pillows. Then there was a loud clatter from the kitchen followed by something snapped out in the dragon tongue. Merlin and Hunith raised their eyebrows at each other and turned to watch the kitchen archway curiously. Merlin’s dad appeared a moment later, looking disgruntled and bearing tea. 

“Dragonling got in the kitchen,” he explained as he set the tray on the coffee table.

“I told you to get rid of the dog door,” Merlin said. “You don’t even own a dog.”

“I’ll get around to it,” his dad said.

“You’ve been saying that for nearly a decade,” his mum pointed out. “And yet we still have a dog door. I should just take care of it myself.”

“Maybe you should. I never think about it when I have the time. Do we really have to discuss this right now?”

“Right,” Merlin said. “Mum said you got a call last night about a flight?”

“A very concerning call,” his dad said. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He looked tired and Merlin immediately felt bad for jumping all over him about uni earlier. Not for the first time, he thought about dropping out and taking the apprenticeship with his uncle. He wouldn’t have to do the generalized vet courses first and he would still be vetted to work on the reserve, which was where he was going to end up eventually anyway. But he wouldn’t have the degree that would allow him to work in vet hospitals, as he was considering doing after graduation. On top of that, his friends were at Uni. Will, Lance, Elena. Some of the other Dragonlords who worked on the reserve had kids who Merlin had grown up with, but he’d never got on very well with any of them. No, he would much rather take the harder route if it meant staying closer to his friends and keeping his options open.

“Would you like to expand on what the phone call was about?” Merlin probed. 

His dad shook himself out of his thoughts. “Of course, sorry. It was from our contact at Mount Albion, Freya Brooks. She’s been finding dead dragons all through summer.”

“An outbreak of something?” Merlin asked, alarmed at the information. That flight was one of the largest in Europe.

“That’s what she thought at first. Recently she did a more thorough investigation of the mountain, which is when she found most of the bodies and signs of poachers.” 

That was exactly the word Merlin hadn’t wanted to hear. They were less of a problem with the existence of dragons no longer being widely known, but unfortunately they still existed. “What exactly would I be doing up there?”

"Evaluating the safety of the flight and investigating the identity of the poachers. We would like for the flight to remain on the mountain, but if it's too dangerous or other circumstances don't permit it we'll move them here to the reserve. Be careful with the poachers. We have no idea who they are right now or how dangerous they are. I don't want you dealing with them on your own, understand?

“Got it. So am I just renting a cabin up there or…?”

“We’ll arrange a cover for you,” his dad said. “I’m thinking this will take some time. Freya thinks the poaching has been going on since last ski season at the resort, which implies whoever’s behind this will be difficult to find. Would you consider yourself a capable ski instructor?” 

“Um, yeah,” Merlin said. “I suppose. That still doesn’t answer the question of where I’m staying. Does Mount Albion offer employee accommodation?”

“I couldn’t tell you. Freya’s the one in charge of making the arrangements. Think you can handle this?”

“Of course.” He could totally be a ski instructor while investigating the deaths of dragons at the hands of mysterious poachers. “When do I have to be at the resort?”

“Eleven AM on Sunday,” his dad replied with the hesitation of someone who knew his words wouldn’t be all that well received. 

“Sunday,” Merlin parroted. “This Sunday?” His dad nodded. “It’s Tuesday. That’s four days to figure out where I’m staying, make arrangements with the school to drop out for the rest of this semester, and get my stuff together.”

“I know it’s short notice-”

“Extremely short notice.”

“-But as I said, I only got the call from Freya last night. You’re still welcome to turn it down.”

Merlin thought about it. “No,” he said. “I’ll deal with it. I want to do this.” And he did. Much as he fussed about wanting his degree and the inconvenience it was to be suddenly called away from his studies like this, Merlin did take his responsibilities as a Dragonlord seriously. He sighed, carding a hand through his hair. “Anything else?”

“Are you sure you’re fine doing this alone? I could still send someone else with you if you want.”

“Dad,” Merlin groaned. “I’ll be fine. And if I do need a hand while I’m up there I’ll call you immediately.” His dad gave him a searching look and Merlin put on his best ‘I am perfectly capable and you absolutely do not need to worry about me’ look.

“Alright,” his dad conceded. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m positive.” Merlin glanced at the time. “I’ll head back to London tomorrow morning. For now I should probably send off an email to my advisor and look into figuring out where I’m gonna stay.”

“If you need anything we’ll be down here,” his mom said, glancing up from her work. “Oh and I put fresh sheets on your bed.”

“Thanks mum.” Merlin said goodnight and retreated up to his room. Four days wasn’t a lot of time, but he’d figure it out.

  
___________________  


The next morning Merlin woke to the smell of pancakes wafting up from the kitchen. He had a whole list of things to get done before he left early Sunday morning, but it was hard to convince himself to get out of bed. His mattress was comfortable, his blankets warm, and there wasn’t the sound of Will stomping around the flat or shouting at the telly, just the distant, gentle clink of dishes and cutlery. He had to get up though. So much to do. Groaning, he dragged himself out from under the blankets and went downstairs. He barely paid any attention as his parents chatted. They didn’t seem to expect his input anyway, probably remembering quite well that Merlin was practically comatose in the morning until he’d had breakfast. With every bite of food he came more awake until he was sitting upright in his chair rather than slumping like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Immediately after breakfast he returned to his room to pack his things and then declared that he was going to head back to London.

His mum hugged him tight. “Have a safe trip,” she said into his shoulder. “Make sure you text me when you get back to your flat so I know you arrived safe. 

“I will,” he promised. His dad stepped forward to ruffle his hair affectionately. 

“Try to stay out of trouble and keep in touch,” he said. 

“I’ll do my best.”

“Oh, I almost forgot. Kilgharrah wants a word before you leave.”

Merlin frowned. Kilgharrah was an ancient dragon somewhere over 2000 years old. He was unlike any dragon Merlin had encountered in his life. Dragons as whole were powerful magical creatures, but Kilgharrah existed in a class all his own, not least of all because he was capable of human speech. “Why?”

“He wouldn’t say.”

“Of course not.” Merlin rolled his eyes. But he left his bag by the front door and headed off into the reserve. Kilgharrah’s lair of choice wasn’t far from the house. He was feigning sleep when Merlin showed up, no doubt in an attempt to get a pair of young dragons to leave him alone. Merlin smiled at the sight. Despite his grumpy demeanor, Kilgharrah was quite popular among the young dragons. His various attempts to scare them off worked for an hour at best before the dragonlings realized Kilgharrah wasn’t actually going to harm them.

 

“I hear you wanted to see me,” Merlin called when he was close enough. Kilgharrah opened one eye to lazily take in his approach. One of the young dragons, a female, chose that moment to clamber up onto Kilgharrah’s head, nearly taking his eye out in the process. Merlin snorted, amused. 

“I don’t suppose you would be willing to get rid of them for a time, young warlock,” Kilgharrah groused. Merlin pretended to consider it. 

“I don’t know,” he said. “I think babysitting might do you some good.”

“Young warlock,” Kilgharrah growled.

“Alright, alright. No need to get your tail all in a twist.” Merlin turned his attention to the dragon now perched atop Kilgharrah’s head. Her brother was considering how best to join her. “Right, that’s enough you two,” Merlin called. The dragons’ heads swiveled around to stare at him. “Time to leave Kilgharrah alone for a bit.” The male dragon had the nerve to hiss irritably at him. “ _Don’t you dare_!” Merlin snapped in the dragon tongue. " _Now off with you_!" The young dragons scampered away from Kilgharrah’s cave. 

“Young ones simply have no respect these days,” Kilgharrah grumbled. 

“Tell me about it,” Merlin agreed. “So what did you want to see me for?”

“You are going to Mount Albion,” the dragon stated. 

“Um, yeah.” Merlin waited for more, but Kilgharrah merely studied him. He scuffed the toe of his shoe in the dirt, telling himself to be patient. Prompting Kilgharrah only ever got him lectures about patience and how the ancient dragon had waited over a thousand years for this, whatever _this_ was. It was never elaborated on. Still, Merlin had to get back to London. 

“The time has come for you to encounter your destiny, young warlock,” Kilgharrah finally said. 

“Destiny?” Merlin asked, frowning. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that Albion’s time of need draws near.”

That made no sense. “Okay. That’s...good to know, I guess. Anything else?”

Kilgharrah sighed, weary, as if by just standing there and not understanding the dragon’s cryptic words Merlin had failed in some great quest. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Personally, Merlin thought Kilgharrah had gone a little senile a few centuries back. His dad insisted Kilgharrah had great magical gifts that should be respected and valued, but he’d often admitted that he never had any idea what the dragon was going on about either. Something about destiny, a once and future king, and he sometimes called Merlin by the name Emrys. It wouldn’t be all that unusual, Emrys being Merlin’s last name, but there was something in the way Kilgharrah said it that made it seem like more.

“No, young warlock, that is all I have to say,” Kilgharrah said.

“Right then, I’ll be on my way. Got a train to catch.” 

He could feel KIlgharrah’s eyes tracking him right up until he disappeared into the trees. At the house he said one last goodbye to his parents, grabbed his things, and finally headed to the train station.

  
___________________  


Merlin jolted awake when the bus went over a pothole. Blinking, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked blearily out the window. They were just entering the quiet little town at the base of the mountain. It looked very picturesque and quaint, especially with the blanket of snow covering it, the type of place where people just left their doors unlocked because there was so little crime. Maybe some loiterers and the occasional vandal who had nothing better to do. A lot of people likely felt the urge to move here and settle down while they passed through, imagining the small town life to be pleasant and easy. Merlin wasn’t one of them. He knew what small town life was like and there was a reason he’d been determined to attend university in London.

It took only a few minutes to get through town and start heading up into the mountain itself. Merlin pulled out his phone to check the confirmation he’d received by email one last time. Four days wasn’t much time to arrange somewhere to stay at a popular place like Albion Mountain Ski Resort. The resort itself did, in fact, offered accommodations for those employees who didn’t live near enough to make the commute, but Merlin felt they were a bit overpriced for what was offered. Considering the amount of money the resort brought in and the size of the village attached to it, it would make sense that their offered accommodations for employees would be lavish. And Merlin supposed they were, considering many resorts didn't even offer accommodation. You would think they'd set aside a floor of rooms in one of their two hotels (two of them! Surely there had to be space!), but apparently that was too good for resort employees. Instead, they offered a handful of small, one bedroom cabins just off the resort village. They looked alright in the pictures, but Merlin had sent an email off to Freya Brooks, asking her what she thought of them. Her reply hadn’t been encouraging, citing that the cabins may not have been all that bad, but were cramped living for two people, sometimes three, depending on how many people needed a place. What had really clinched it though was when Merlin had exchanged a handful of emails with the accommodation coordinator and learned that there was only one space available, shared with someone else. Considering the nature of the work he was there to do, Merlin had said, “thanks, but no thanks” and kept searching for something better.

By chance, he’d happened upon an ad for a second bedroom in a cabin in town owned by a ski instructor. There was a touch of reluctance to the ad, like they didn’t entirely want someone to answer it, but Merlin didn’t care. It was a reasonable price for what looked to be (if the pictures were accurate) a nice room with a queen sized bed, dresser, and desk. Even better, the room would be all his. No sharing it with anyone else. It was infinitely preferable to the offered resort accommodation. So Merlin had taken it, relieved to cross that task off his list.

The Albion Mountain Ski Resort had, at one point, been a modest, but cozy lodge and a handful of chairlifts. That had changed drastically in the last few decades. Now there were streets lined with expensive shops and two large hotels in addition to the cabins available for use. The resort was more of a town than the actual town at the base of the mountain. It was lifeless at the moment, the resort being between seasons, but Merlin knew within a week it would be filling up with winter vacationers. The bus pulled up at the very front of Car Park 1, near the unmanned ticket booths and the base lodge. Merlin tucked his phone away, thanked the bus driver, and lugged his bags off. He hoisted one over his shoulder and went to retrieve his skis, slung those over his other shoulder, thanked all the gods in existence that his other bag was a rolling suitcase, and lumbered off towards the lodge.

Above him, the sky was covered by light grey clouds and snow drifted down in light, tiny flakes. Merlin took in a deep breath of the cold, refreshing mountain air, loving the way it burned in his lungs. Maybe he’d spent too much time in the city, where the air was always tainted with things like car exhaust. It was almost a shame he wasn’t just here to teach people to ski. Still, if he got things sorted quickly enough there would be plenty of time to enjoy himself for the rest of the season. It was the least he deserved.

The steps leading up to the lodge proved to be a bit difficult to navigate. Merlin grit his teeth as he lugged his suitcase behind him while trying not to dislodge his skis from his shoulder. He tottered dangerously a few times, but managed to make it safely to the top of the stairs without mishap. Apparently that meant that there was some great imbalance in the world. So when Merlin tried to go up the five simple steps inside the lodge to the main dining area he tripped on the first one and promptly dropped everything. 

“Oh, are you alright?”

The voice came from behind him. Merlin rolled over onto his back with a groan and saw a woman, probably around his age, a dusting of snow in her curly dark hair. She looked incredibly concerned for his wellbeing so Merlin smiled his most reassuring smile. 

“I’m fine,” he said. “Maybe a bruise or something, but no lasting damage.” Merlin took the hand she offered and let her help him to his feet. 

“Is this a common occurrence for you?” she asked. 

“More than I’d like,” Merlin admitted. He wasn’t clumsy, not exactly. He just had a tendency to not pay as much attention as he should to where he was going and it tended to result in situations, as Lance had so delicately put it once. 

“Here, let me give you a hand with all that. I’m Guinevere, by the way. But you can just call me Gwen. That’s what most people usually do, since it’s much shorter and easier to remember.”

“I’m Merlin.” They exchanged a handshake. Then Merlin gathered his skis and poles back up and Gwen took hold of his suitcase. There was an area off to the side that had been designated for bags and ski equipment and whatever else you’d chosen to haul up the mountain via bus. That was where they dumped his things. 

“So are you staying at the resort accommodations?” Gwen asked. 

“No, I’m renting a room in town,” Merlin told her. He looked down at where his stuff was piled and added, “It’s times like these I wish I had a car.” He could’ve borrowed one from his parents or made Will lend him his. Too late now.

“It’s probably a good thing,” Gwen said. Then blushed and blurted, “Renting a room, not the car thing. Obviously a car would be very useful in situations like this and just kind of in general, but I mean…” She sighed. “Let me try that again. It’s probably a good thing you’re not staying in resort accommodation. It’s usually overcrowded. I don’t know why they don’t just set aside a hotel floor or something.”

Merlin faked shock. “And miss the opportunity to make money off those rooms? Never!” Gwen laughed. She was a very endearing person. Merlin had the feeling he was quite going to like her. “So what exactly happens at orientation anyway?”

“There’s a presentation on rules and stuff and they go over any changes that were made from last year for those of us who are returning.”

“You worked here last year?”

“Yep. This will be my fourth year as a ski instructor.”

“Ah. This is my first.”

“Here or ever?”

“Ever.”

“It has its ups and downs, but the unlimited access to the ski slopes is definitely worth it.”

They kept chatting as they meandered away from the baggage and over towards where a projector was set up. Quite a few other people were milling about, waiting for the presentation to start. Other ski instructors, lift operators, a few members of Ski Patrol. Gwen really was lovely. Merlin learned that she had dreams of opening a metalwork shop with a speciality in medieval weaponry. She also had a younger brother who was a constant source of exasperation for her and a lovely girlfriend who she shared a cabin with up here. Merlin in turn told her about how he was taking a break from his veterinarian studies and was tragically single. Will said it was because he had shit taste in people and Merlin could admit that was partly true. But the main reason was that he couldn’t tell any of his exes about his magic. He didn’t mention that part to Gwen though, for obvious reasons.

“Who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone up here,” Gwen said. “Maybe they’ll even be _the one_.”

“I don’t know about _the one_ , but there are certainly plenty of attractive people in this room,” Merlin conceded. He wasn’t holding his breath though. “Why is there a buffet set up? And is that alcohol?”

“After the presentation there’s this party type thing,” Gwen explained. “There’s catering and beer so I don’t question it. Oh, and I think there’s usually a tour for new employees.” As Gwen finished speaking an arm appeared, draping around her shoulder. The arm was attached to an utterly gorgeous woman with wavy brown hair and piercing, pale green eyes that were currently giving Merlin a thorough once over. “Oh,” Gwen said, sounding pleased. “Merlin, this is my girlfriend, Morgana. Morgana, this is Merlin. It’s his first year as a ski instructor.” Morgana finished her scrutiny and held out a hand to shake. Her grip was strong. 

“A pleasure to meet you, Merlin,” Morgana greeted. 

“You as well,” Merlin replied. Then, because Morgana was still staring at him and it was making him nervous, he blurted, “Gwen is a really lovely person. Not that I’m hitting on her. I wouldn’t. That would be rude, especially since she already mentioned having a girlfriend and I’m not one to step on toes or anything, but she’s really nice and I like talking to her and I’m just going to stop now.”

Morgana threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, he’d adorable!” she exclaimed. “Where did you find him Gwen?”

“Tripping up the stairs,” her girlfriend said.

“That is just precious.” Morgana patted his cheek before looping one arm through Gwen’s and the other through Merlin’s. “Come on, I want good seats for the presentation.” Merlin had no idea what was so interesting about a presentation on rules and expectations. Not that he had a lot of experience with job orientations. The only job he’d held was the summer he’d worked at his aunt’s herbal shop. He must’ve been missing something. 

When a more senior resort employees stepped up and started a PowerPoint Merlin learned that there was, in fact, nothing interesting about the presentation. No, the entertainment came in the form of the rest of the audience and the comments Morgana and Gwen were making about them.

“Oh my god,” Gwen hissed, “Valiant’s picking his nose!” 

“He ate it!” Morgana cackled.

“Gross!” 

“Have you seen Vivian’s new ski equipment?”

“What, again? Didn’t she just get new stuff last year?”

“Yes, but it’s from _last_ year.”

“No repeat fashion?”

“Exactly.”

“Is Sefa wearing make up?”

“Finally! I spent an entire month last year trying to convince her some liner would do wonder for her eyes!” 

“Think she’s trying to impress someone?”

“Make up doesn’t always have to be about impressing someone, Gwen.”

“Of course not. It’s so sudden though.”

“I just hope to god it has nothing to do with my brother.”

“Oh Sefa gave up on him after the first week last year.”

And on it went all through the presentation. Some part of him realized that as it was his first time at Albion as a ski instructor he should probably be paying attention. Merlin did manage to tune in for a moment when Ski Patrol stepped up to give a quick presentation on predictions for weather and snow conditions for the upcoming season. This was because Morgana and Gwen had also tuned in for what they apparently considered the only important part of the presentation. Merlin was grateful for his attention when the second Ski Patrol member was introduced as Freya Brooks. That was his contact. When the presentation was over Merlin tracked Freya across the room where she took up position on the edge of the little party to observe. He’d have to head over to talk to her at some point, preferably soon. For now though he returned his attention to his newest acquaintances. 

“So I didn’t miss anything important did I?” Merlin asked Morgana. She snorted. 

“No.”

“And if you do find yourself with questions,” Gwen added, “you can always ask either of us.”

“Brilliant, thanks.”

Over by one of the doors a small group was gathering. The tour, Merlin figured.

“You don’t want to go on that,” Morgana said when she noticed where he was looking. “It’s like those dumb uni tours where they show you all the buildings and then you forget where everything is the next day. You’re better of just using a map if you’re that worried about getting lost.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Alright, now that business is out of the way it’s about time we got some drinks.”

  
___________________  


With a beer in one hand and Morgana and Gwen for company the party wasn’t bad. It was mostly just catered food and drinks, nothing to be impressed but, but Merlin was enjoying himself anyway. Morgana had a sharp wit. It was frightening when combined with her blunt honesty and killer confidence, qualities that reminded Merlin a bit of his mum. They’d probably get on. Gwen’s sole purpose sometimes seemed to be to temper Morgana’s bluntness with her sweet personality. They were an adorable couple.

“We should find you a boyfriend,” Morgana decided. 

“That’s really not necessary,” Merlin said. 

“No, no, we’re going to find you someone,” Morgana insisted. “Someone to keep you warm all through the cold, dark winter.” The way she waggled her eyebrows suggestively left no doubt as to what she meant by ‘keep you warm’. Merlin gave her a flat look. 

“It never hurts to look,” Gwen said. 

“Figures you’d take your girlfriend’s side,” Merlin grumbled. 

“She is the one I go home with every night.” 

“What makes you think I want a guy anyway?” Merlin asked. “What if I like girls?”

“I have an infallible gaydar,” Morgana claimed.

“Right.” He needed a way out of this conversation. Right at that moment the crowd around them parted enough for Merlin to catch sight of Freya, reminding him that he still needed to talk to her. “I’ll be right back,” he said, already moving away. “Gotta say hi to someone real quick.” 

“Take your time,” Gwen said. 

Merlin wove his way across the room towards Freya. With most of his attention focused on getting to her he didn’t notice the man stepping into his path until it was too late. The result was exactly what one would expect in a scenario such as this and, unfortunately, one that Merlin was far too intimately familiar with. He’d lost count of the number of times he’d spilled a drink on someone at a club and finally returned to his table to find Will laughing his arse off. Sometimes Merlin wondered if he should get a new best friend. He looked up, ready to apologize for dumping most of his pint all over a stranger, and froze. Oh _wow_. Merlin had never met a more gorgeous man in his life. Tousled blond hair, perfect blue eyes, strong firm jawline, and oh gods, his _chest_. _All_ of him. And then he opened his mouth.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Immediately Merlin went from apologetic to irritated. “Excuse me?”

“Are you deaf as well as blind?” the man continued.

“I’m sorry,” Merlin finally said. He grabbed a few napkins from a nearby table and began dabbing at the mess. “It was an accident-”

“Do you have any idea how expensive this shirt is?” the man cut him off. 

“More than my life is worth, I’m sure,” Merlin said, rolling his eyes. “Look, whoever you are-”

“Arthur,” the man snapped, tone implying there was something seriously wrong with Merlin for not already knowing that.

“Look Arthur-” Merlin froze. “Wait, Arthur as in Arthur Pendragon?” He hoped to god not. His new roomate was Arthur Pendragon. Surely there had to be more than one Arthur on this mountain.

Arthur’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Yes, why does that-” Suspicion entered his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re Merlin Emrys.” 

“Um, yeah, that would be me,” Merlin admitted. For lack of anything else to do he went back to dabbing ineffectually at the stain on Arthur’s shirt.

“Fantastic,” Arthur muttered. “I’m letting a complete moron share my cabin.”

Merlin abandoned his dabbing to glare at Arthur. “Hey, I apologized, didn’t I? It was an accident! Besides, it’s not like you can’t afford a new shirt.” 

“That’s not the point,” Arthur said. He waved his hand dismissively. “Just...get away from me.” And then he swept off into the crowd, still fuming. Merlin gaped after him. How incredibly rude. And Merlin was going to be stuck with that for months. It figured the most attractive man he had ever seen in his life was a massive prat. This was going to suck. Now wasn’t the time to think about that though, not with more pressing matters than snobby roommates to attend to. He dumped his almost empty pint on the nearest table and continued making his way over to Freya. 

“Um, hi?” Merlin began upon reaching her. Freya’s eyes took him in with a hint of wariness. “You’re Freya Brooks, right?” 

“That’s me,” she replied, cautious.

He held out his hand. “I’m Merlin Emrys.” 

Immediately the wariness faded from Freya’s eyes and she smiled, warm and welcoming. “So you’re the one who’s here to look into my problem, huh? I was starting to think I was gonna have to track you down myself.”

“Sorry about that,” Merlin said. He noticed Freya checking her phone. “Do you have somewhere you need to be?”

“Hm? Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m meeting a friend for lunch, but this is way more important.” She fired off a text and tucked her phone into her pocket, turning her full attention on Merlin. “Where are you staying?”

“I’m renting a room in town,” Merlin told her. “Was surprised there was anything available actually, considering how last minute this all was.” 

“I didn’t realize how serious the situation was until recently,” Freya admitted. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Anyway, since you’re staying in town, there’s this nice little cafe on the main street and I was thinking we could meet there this evening to go over the situation.”

“Yeah, sure.” 

“Great. Let me get your number and I’ll text you directions later.” As soon as they’d exchanged contact info, Freya was pulling on a coat and slipping her hand into a pair of gloves. “So I’ll see you tonight?”

“Yes. Text me whenever you’ve got the time.”

“Will do. It’s good to meet you Merlin.”

“You too, Freya.”

Merlin liked her. She was nice. He meandered back towards Morgana and Gwen, hoping they’d decided against trying to hook him up with a guy to spend the winter cuddling with.

____________________  


Once people started to trickle out of the lodge Merlin figured it was time to get going. His plan upon arriving had been to ask his new roomate for a ride, since they would be going to the same place anyway, but that likely wasn’t an option based on their first meeting. Even if Arthur was still willing to give him a ride, Merlin wasn’t all that eager to spend time alone in a car with him right now. Unfortunately, he doubted there would be a bus available, not before the opening of the season and with other employees needing a ride to their resort accommodations. So really, Arthur was his only option, regardless of how horrible this was going to be. Only there was a small problem. Arthur was nowhere to be seen. Merlin scanned the crowd again and again, but there was still no sign of him. This did not bode well. Finally, Merlin tracked down Gwen, hoping she would be able to help.

“Hey Gwen, have you seen Arthur?”

“Um, not recently…” Her eyes roved over the remainder of the crowd and frowned, clearly not spotting the elusive man either. “Let me text Morgana,” she told him. The reply was almost immediate. Gwen frowned down at the screen of her phone. “She says she’s going to check the car park for his car.”

“Just my luck,” Merlin grumbled. 

Gwen smiled at him, reassuring. “We’ll get this figured out,” she promised. 

A few minutes later Morgana sent an update. “She says Arthur’s car is gone,” Gwen reported. 

“Fuck,” Merlin said. “I don’t suppose you know of any buses that would be heading into town sometime tonight?”

“Oh, do you not have a ride now?” Gwen asked. “I doubt there’s a bus, but Morgana and I can take you.” 

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s not out of our way or anything. Our cabin is on the same street.”

“I- Yeah, that’d be great!”

“Alright, let’s go grab your stuff then.” 

Carrying his things back down to the car park was a lot easier with Gwen’s help. Morgana was waiting for them, leaning against her car with a smirk curling the corners of her mouth.

“Need a lift?” she asked as casually as possible. Merlin stuck his tongue out at her and dragged his things over to help Gwen load them. 

“Why is Arthur such an arse,” Merlin asked as he slid into the back seat.

“He’s just mad he no longer gets his precious cabin all to himself,” Morgana answered. She put the key in the ignition, glanced about to make sure she wasn’t going to hit anything, and peeled out of the car park at an alarming speed that made Merlin seriously question whether or not he was going to make it to the end of this car ride alive. Gwen seemed completely unbothered by it. 

“I...um, right,” Merlin said, forcing his fingers to uncurl from where they were clenched tight around the edge of the seat. “Why’d he advertise it then?” 

“I talked him into it,” Morgana said. “I thought it would be good for him. He needs more friends. I adore Arthur, I really do, but he needs to hang out with other people.”

“So I take it you’ve known Arthur for a long time?”

“Arthur’s her brother,” Gwen provided.

“Half brother,” Morgana corrected. “Different mothers.”

“Ah. So exactly how much are the next few months going to suck?”

“Arthur can be nice,” Gwen said. “He’s just…”

“Emotionally stunted,” Morgana said. She waved a dismissive hand. “You’ll be fine.” 

“Whatever you say,” Merlin muttered. 

Morgana pulled up outside a well kept one story cabin on a street full of fancy cabins. Merlin assumed this was the street where all the rich people had their winter homes. Like the Pendragons. Who apparently had two. Merlin’s family was by no means poor, but two winter homes? Merlin wasn’t sure he’d know what to do with that kind of money.

“Here,” Morgana said, sliding gracefully out of the driver’s seat, “let Gwen and I help you with your things darling.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine-” Merlin tried to protest, but the girls weren’t hearing it. 

“It’s no trouble,” Morgana insisted. Gwen was already hauling Merlin’s suitcase out of the trunk anyway and Morgana was reaching up to get his skis off the car rack, all before Merlin had even managed to get himself out of the car. He fumbled with the door handle, stumbling out of the car and nearly slipping on a patch of ice. 

“Careful,” Gwen warned. “Don’t want an injury before ski season even starts!” 

They were halfway up the bath before something occurred to Merlin. “Wait,” he said.

“What?” Morgana asked.

“I don’t have a key.” 

“That’s alright, darling, I have one.” 

Merlin spared a moment to wonder if Arthur was aware his sister had a spare key to his cabin. The assumption would be yes, but considering what Merlin had witnessed of both siblings so far it wouldn’t surprise him to learn Morgana had had her spare made in secret. 

Morgana marched right up to the front door, slid the key in, and threw the door open, declaring, “Arthur, I brought you your new roommate!” Merlin stepped gingerly into the entryway. He had a moment to admire the wide open living room, sporting a flat screen on the wall and a cozy fireplace in the corner with cushy couches and chairs before Arthur appeared around the corner, fuming. 

“Get out Morgana,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m really not in the mood for any of your shit today.”

“Well someone had to give poor Merlin a ride, considering you just left him up there at the lodge,” Morgana retorted. Here, Arthur gave Merlin a brief glance and his glare became a grimace for a second. 

“Fine,” he said. “Now you can go.”

“Are they always like this?” Merlin whispered to Gwen. 

She shrugged. “Depends on the day really. In general they get along.”

“Fine,” Morgana said airily. “Come on Gwen. I know when I’m not wanted.” Gwen gave Merlin an encouraging pat on the shoulder and followed Morgana out. Then it was just Arthur and Merlin. Arthur wasn’t glaring at him, but he didn’t look all that happy to see him either. 

“Look,” Merlin said, breaking the tense silence, “I really am sorry about earlier. It was an accident. Just...can we put that behind us and get along for the next few months?”

Arthur’s reply was to turn around and go back the way he’d come. Merlin heard a door slam. Well, that definitely could’ve gone better. _It also couldn’t gone worse_ , Merlin reminded himself. Now where was his room?

  
____________________  


After he unpacked Merlin found himself sitting on the bed in his room, twiddling his thumbs. The room hadn’t proved hard to find. There were three doors down the hallway past the kitchen. One led to a bathroom/laundry room. Of the remaining two, one was Arthur’s and one was the spare room. Merlin had cheated with a bit of magic to determine which was which, not wanting to inspire anymore of Arthur’s ire than he already had, deserved or not. He didn’t know what to do with himself now though. He was hesitant to leave the room. It was like visiting his dad’s relatives in Ireland, where he was always just a little bit uncomfortable. So it was a great relief to leave the cabin for a while, even it was only to meet up with Freya to go over his assignment. The walk was a couple blocks. She’s picked a cozy little cafe on the town’s only main road. Merlin ordered a hot chocolate before settling down across from Freya.

“Settling in alright?” Freya asked. 

“The room is nice, but I’m not sure my roommate and I will survive the winter without murdering each other,” Merlin said. 

“I’m sure you’ll work things out.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Evidence pointed to the contrary, but Merlin liked to think he was an optimist. “So, uh, I don’t really know anything about you. Other than your name.”

“Shall we start with a little introduction then?” Freya suggested. “That’s probably a good idea. I’m Freya Brooks, as you already know. I live here in town and work for Ski Patrol as a cover for my position as a magical liaison between the admittedly tiny magical community that exists up here and everyone else. I know a number of spells, but my main strength lies in shape shifting into the form of a bastet, which is a-”

“Giant winged cat,” Merlin said before realizing he’d just cut her off. “Sorry.” 

Freya looked pleased though. “No, don’t worry about it. I’m just happy there’s someone in this universe who who actually knows what a bastet is.”

“Probably a side effect of vet school,” Merlin said. 

“Are you not planning on working at the reserve then?” Freya asked, brows drawn together to express her confusion. 

“I’m gonna specialize in dragons and I definitely plan on taking over whenever my dad gets around to retiring.”

“So I assume you’re at a university? Are there programs for that at universities?”

“Not available to the general public,” Merlin said. “Since our apprenticeship programs don’t give you the certification to work outside of magical communities we’ve been working out programs at universities. For example, since I’m doing a program through a university instead of an apprenticeship I won’t be limited to just working on dragon reserves. I could get a job at an ordinary vet hospital or, since the program I’m in will also cover other magical creatures, I could work for any number of preservation societies. Gives me a lot more options. It’s still pretty new though and it can be hard to actually figure out how to sign up for it, on account of everything needing to be all secret and stuff.”

“Still, it’s an improvement,” Freya said. 

“Oh, definitely. So, what can you tell me about the situation up here?”

“What do you already know?”

Merlin thought back. “Um, that a large portion of the flight living up here has been killed and you strongly suspect poachers are behind it. Not much else.”

Freya nodded. “I found a couple dead dragons last spring and over the summer, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. This fall I finally took a closer look at some of the bodies. They’d been…” She sighed, started again. “Their organs had been removed. Lack of blood indicated most of it was probably drained. There were some claws and teeth missing and…” Freya looked a bit ill. “There were a few missing eyes.” 

“Definitely sounds like poachers,” Merlin agreed. 

“That’s not the only thing I noticed,” Freya continued. “The behavior of the flight has been concerning.”

“Concerning how?”

“Increase of attacks on hikers and resort employees. Started last spring as well. My first guess was expanding territory. They don’t usually expand towards the resort, but it’s not like it’s the most impossible thing. But I investigated in my bastet form and I didn’t see any signs of expanding territory boundaries, which means the majority of the attacks have taken place outside their territory.”

Merlin frowned. “That suggests the attacks are deliberate on the dragons’ part.” While extremely protective of their territory, dragons normally didn’t bother people unless they actually walked into it. Over the years the Dragonlords had taken great pains to ensure that the territory of this flight only expanded away from the resort. 

“Exactly.” Freya sighed. “In contrast, a lot of the dead dragons I’ve found have been at the edges of their territory, sometimes even just inside it.”

“How much of the flight is left?” Merlin asked. 

Freya shook her head, “I’ve no idea. I can usually get a little ways into their territory in my bastet form, but since early summer they’ve been chasing me out. Pretty vicious about it too. Other than finding a few of their dead just inside, I haven’t ventured in there again. I’d even advise you to be careful.”

“This is quite the mess you’ve got up here,” Merlin commented. 

“Oh believe me, I know,” Freya said. She reached down into a bag and pulled out an accordion folder and a rolled up map, pushing them across the table. “I’ve got pictures and notes on the bodies I’ve found and on this map I’ve marked territory boundaries, locations of the bodies, things like that.” Merlin laid a hand on them absently, thinking. 

“First things first,” he said after a moment. “I need to assess the condition of the flight. I’ll go up tomorrow for a census and probably a check up, just to make sure the poachers are our only problem and there isn’t some nasty disease or anything going around.” 

“I can give you a lift,” Freya offered. “Probably get you a snowmobile too, to make your trip a bit easier.”

“That’d be great,” Merlin said.

“Come round my place sometime before eight, then.” Freya finished her tea and made to stand. “I better get going. My husband’s cooking dinner tonight and I definitely don’t want to miss that.”

“Good cook?” Merlin asked.

“The best.” She gave him a stern look as she pulled her coat on. “Remember, be at my place by eight or you’ll have to find you own way up. I’ll text you the address.”

“By eight,” Merlin promised. He stuck around the cafe for a few more minutes, enjoying the cozy atmosphere and finishing his hot chocolate. When the last dregs had been swirling around the bottom of his mug for long enough Merlin admitted he just didn’t want to go back to the tense atmosphere of his cabin. He hoped he and Arthur would find a way to at least get along for the coming months. Otherwise life was going to be pretty miserable. Putting his coat on and tucking the papers from Freya under his arm Merlin finally resigned himself to going back. It was dark out, the sky above clear and dotted with stars. Merlin was reminded of his childhood on the reserve, when he would go out and lay among the dragons, gazing up at the stars. Sometimes Kilgharrah would come lie beside him and tell him stories of times long past, of kings and knights and sorcerers and grand adventures. He missed that. 

Arthur wasn’t anywhere to be seen when Merlin got back. Merlin figured he was still holed up in his room and decided to take advantage of the situation to set up camp by the fireplace. Casting a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t about to be interrupted, Merlin whispered a spell under his breath and watched a warm fire jump to life in the hearth. There was still that niggling feeling of discomfort from being in a place that wasn’t his home, but Merlin wasn’t going to let that stop him. He spread the map out over the coffee table and spent the rest of the evening looking it over and thinking about what he’d learned from Freya. He just hoped the situation wasn’t as dire as it sounded.

  
____________________  


Merlin rolled out of bed the next morning before he was fully awake. The result was that he looked down halfway through pulling on his trousers to see that not only were they backwards, but his jumper was inside out. He groaned. Once he’d righted his clothes he padded down the hall to the kitchen and turned the kettle on. From the cupboard he pulled down a bowl for cereal. He glanced out the window. A fresh layer of snow had fallen the previous night. Thank the gods Freya had offered to set him up with a snowmobile because he didn’t relish the thought of trekking through all that snow on foot. When he finished his cereal he made a thermos of tea and checked his mobile. Freya didn’t live far, not that anything was really considered far in this little town.

As he was tugging on his boots and zipping up his coat Arthur came shuffling down the hall, clearly having just woken up. It was early still, like the sun had barely risen early, so Merlin probably deserved the raised eyebrow he got, but it didn’t stop him from being irritated by it.

“What?” he muttered defensively.

“Early morning walk?” Arthur asked. With the excellent heating in the cabin Arthur had apparently decided a shirt was completely unnecessary and Merlin was having a very hard time not staring at his naked chest.

“Yeah,” Merlin answered absently. Then he blurted, “I like sunrises.”

Arthur’s other eyebrow rose. “Right.” And he stalked off to the kitchen. Merlin resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearest hard surface and reminded himself that he didn’t care what Arthur thought or did or said or anything because Arthur was a giant prat. A giant attractive prat. But that didn’t mattered. Merlin had self control.

Despite his layers, Merlin still shivered when he stepped out into the cold morning air. Snow drifted down from the dim, grey sky. It was peaceful this early, with most people still in their beds, so different from the constant bustle of a big city like London. Merlin resisted the urge to create a light to guide his way through the streets. Best not to take any chances at being discovered. According to Freya there was a community of magic users in this town, but the point of Merlin’s mission was secrecy. Besides, the sky was lightening, slowly but surely, and there were a few street lamps about, old but functional.

He arrived at Freya’s house with ten minutes to spare. It was a nice little cottage, a bit like something out of a picture book. Freya was shoveling snow out of her driveway.

“Ah, you made it,” Freya said when she spotted him.

“Somehow I managed it,” Merlin said. He pointed at the shovel. “Need a hand with that?”

“I’m almost done.” She heaved a few more shovel fulls of snow out of the way before leaving the shovel in the garage and gesturing Merlin to climb into her truck. A large man appeared, silhouetted in the front door, waving. Freya waved back, a small pleased smile on her lips.

“Husband?” Merlin guessed.

“Yep. His name’s Percival. He owns the bakery next to the cafe we were at yesterday.”

“Ah.”

The ride continued in silence as they headed out of town. Freya reached over to the fiddle with the radio until she found one of the few stations without static. It was playing country music. Merlin had never been much of a fan, though his friend Elena often listened to it. Freya clearly enjoyed it, humming along to the tune as she drove.

“So what exactly are you going to do?” Freya asked when they hit the resort village.

“Today? Probably just the census,” Merlin said. “I need to get a count of how many dragons are left in the flight. I’m planning on check ups as well, make sure none of them are ill or have any serious injuries.”

“Put that vet school to some use huh?” Freya teased.

“Well, I figure it’s gotta be good for something. If I’ve got time I might take a look around the outer territory and see if I can find any signs of the poachers.”

They pulled up in the parking lot and Freya lead him through the resort to a shed that was marked ‘Ski Patrol Vehicles’.

“You can take any of these snowmobiles,” Freya said. “Last I checked they all work and that was just a few days ago. So unless one of my coworkers has done something it should be fine.”

“You’re sure this is alright?” Merlin asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah, it’s fine. I mean, you could also rent one from the resort because I’m pretty sure they still do that, but this is more reliable. There are usually a few sitting around in here. Just remember to text me before you take one so I can make sure it’s okay and we won’t miss it for the day.”

“Alright.”

“Okay then, I’ve got to go off and do Ski Patrol things.” Freya pointed a finger at him. “Do you have a radio with you?”

Merlin fished it out of his pack and held it up as proof. “My dad has been drilling the importance of being prepared into me for as long as I can remember, especially when you’re out in the wild.”

“Good,” Freya said. “Don't hesitate to radio Ski Patrol if you’re in trouble, okay? I’d rather have to orchestrate a cover up than tell your father you died out in the mountain somewhere.”

“I will do my best to spare you that,” Merlin promised.

“Good.” Freya left and Merlin selected the nearest snowmobile. 

It was a little strange seeing a ski resort out of season, with no one on the slopes and the chairlifts unmoving. Merlin zipped past the slopes and soon left the resort behind. Freya’s map indicated there wasn’t far to go to reach dragon territory. On it she’d marked a spot along the easiest route and written ‘crevasse’ in neat little handwriting, which made Merlin question what the other routes to the territory were like.

Merlin knew when he’d crossed into dragon territory. He could feel the electric tingle from the enchantments erected by past Dragonlords sparking across his skin. Among it was a different magic, that of the dragons who lived in this territory. Merlin had been to a number of mountains and forests and other places where dragons made their home. He was used to sensing the signatures of the residing dragons spread out across the area, still within the same general territory, but each claiming their own little corner of it. Here it was different. The dragons were all clustered together in the same cave and it was hard to distinguish their individual signatures. Despite sharing territory quite peacefully, dragons were still solitary creatures. A flight of them could all live together in the same mountain range without incident, but each kept to it’s own cave. Some couldn’t even stand to share hunting grounds. The only times dragons clustered together was when they were preparing for war or when they felt so threatened that they would rather have safety in numbers than personal space. It was meant to be a temporary situation, until the threat had been dealt with. Merlin wondered how long these dragons had been clustered together.

The cave was towards the heart of Mount Albion dragon territory, surrounded by a copse of trees that kept it well hidden from sight. A mountain stream ran nearby, making the cave ideal real estate. Merlin imagined there’d been many fights over the ownership of this cave. He entered with cautiously. When Merlin was twelve and allowed for the first time to accompany his father into an actual dragon den he’d made the mistake of stepping inside without giving a thought to the fact that he was entering the private domain of a territorial creature. The dragon, a fierce young male with scales the color of hot blue flames, had nearly snapped his jaws closed around Merlin’s skinny frame. His dad had yanked him out of the way at the last second. One of the teeth had scraped along the side of Merlin’s thigh and he still had a thin, white scar from it. He’d been shoved out of the cave and told to wait and when His dad had emerged from the den he’d quietly patched up Merlin’s injury before sternly telling him never to be so careless around dragons again. Merlin had taken those words to heart. However, nothing was there to greet him at the entrance of the cave. The inside of the cave was warm. Within minutes Merlin was unzipping his heavy winter coat. There was a barrier of magic stretched across the mouth of the cave, preventing warmth from escaping and instead letting it gather. Merlin was sure he could strip down to his pants and still be pleasantly warm. It was a common thing to find in the midst of winter. Dragons liked their warmth and while they gave off their own natural heat that kept them warm while they were outside their cave they would never pass up the opportunity to make their home into a furnace. Merlin wasn’t complaining. He knew warming spells, certainly, and his clothes were of good quality, but it was much nicer to be able to shuck his heavy coat and thick gloves for things like a medical examination.

“Hello?” Merlin called. He thought he heard the scratching of claws against stone, but it was faint and distant. Cautiously, he made his way further into the cave, calling a light to his hand when the cave entrance fell too far behind. He froze when he heard something and stared hard into the dark. There, something moving. A few steps closer and he could see it was a tail, quickly withdrawn from the light.

“It’s alright,” Merlin said gently. “I’m not here to hurt you.” He reached out tentatively with his magic, brushing against the mind of a dragon who quickly recoiled from the contact. Perhaps they’d respond better to the dragon tongue? “ _I’m not here to hurt you_ ,” Merlin repeated. “ _I came here to help. You don’t have to be afraid of me_.” A dragon slinked forward. In the small light from his palm Merlin could just make out the rock grey color of their scales. Merlin crouched slowly. This dragon was about the size of a pony, not yet an adult. Wary, the dragon came forward enough for Merlin to stretch out his hand and allow his fingers to be sniffed. The dragon relaxed and finally the rest of them came forward into the light. There weren’t very many. Seven young dragons, out of the dragonling stage but not yet adults.

“Is this all of you?” Merlin asked. The Mount Albion flight was supposed to be one of the largest in Europe and all that was left was seven young dragons. It wasn’t right.

The census and check ups took hours. It was very different from helping Gaius on the reserve, where dragons were used to the occasional check up and generally sat still for it. Merlin wasn’t sure these dragons had ever even met a Dragonlord before him, much less been poked and prodded by one. When he was finally done with it, Merlin settled himself in a corner to observe the flight’s behavior. He added notes to the documents he’d already compiled, each on easily labeled with the dragon’s name.

Every dragon had a name, something present from the day they crawled out of their egg. These names would be lost on most people, but not to the Dragonlords. Merlin couldn't really explain how he knew a dragon's name. When he interacted with a dragon it just…came to him. Like he'd known it all along and had only forgotten for a time. 

The first dragon who’d come out to check Merlin out was a male called Theron. His grey scales undoubtedly made it easy to mistake him for just another bolder at a distance. Theron was a proud dragon, a bit on the selfish side, more interested in showing off and impressing others. He had a sister called Euanthe, also grey scaled, but with splotches of green that looked like moss. They seemed to bicker a lot, which for dragons meant snapping their teeth threateningly at each other and sometimes attempting to claw each other’s hides off. They should’ve had a mother to keep them from behaving like that towards each other. Merlin wondered if she’d been killed by the poachers of if she’d died of something unrelated.

The eldest of the group was a female, Elpis. She was copper red in color. Merlin got the impression she was eternally exasperated with the other dragons. The one exception was a small female with goldenrod scales by the name of Gaia. Merlin figured Elpis’s fondness for Gaia was because Gaia was mild mannered compared to the others, even shy, though with a sense of cunning intelligence about her.

There were two other males. Cyrus was the youngest dragon. He reminded Merlin of dragons he’d seen living on plains. A crossbreed maybe? It rarely happened in the wild, but it was entirely possible. Cyrus was excitable and seemed to enjoy trailing around after Theron, probably taken in by the older dragon’s arrogance, which could pass for confidence to an oblivious young dragon like Cyrus. The other dragon was called Alcaeus. He’d been the easiest of the bunch to examine, on account of his lazy nature. He’d also been the only one with a major injury, three scratches along his flank. Most likely the result of an altercation with another dragon, possibly Theron. 

Finally, there was another female, a nocturnal breed. At first glance, Merlin thought her scales were pitch black. It was only when he got closer that he saw she was actually a deep plum color. It was gorgeous and rare. Merlin knew of a few other dragons recorded as having that coloring to their scales. Most were black or blue. Her name was Menodora.

Merlin never got around to looking for signs of poachers. He paused in his observations long enough to build a fire before continuing with his note taking. There was an edge of tension and fear permeating the cave. When he did finally get up to leave, it was clear that the dragons would prefer him to stay. Gaia curled her tail around his leg and Cyrus pushed his head into Merlin’s side. Even Menodora poked her head up from where she’d been dozing and gave him a mournful look.

“I’ve got to go for now, but I promise I’ll be back,” Merlin said. He tried to disentangle himself from the dragons. “I’m serious! I have to go!” Euanthe moved to block the cave entrance and Merlin sighed, exasperated. “Okay, seriously guys? Can you stop? I promise I’ll come back. Not tomorrow and probably not for a few days after that at least, but I promise I will come back.” He still had to shove Cyrus’s head away and reach down to pry Gaia’s tail off with his fingers.

  
____________________  


That evening, Merlin was reading over his notes when the door to his room was flung open. He jumped, banging his shin on the leg of the desk, and nearly hurled his tablet at the wall.

“We’re going out,” Morgana declared. Her gaze swept over his room and she tsked. “You haven’t even been here a week and this place is already a pigsty.”

“I wasn’t exactly expecting anyone to come barging in anytime soon,” Merlin grumbled. “And what if I don’t want to go out?” Gwen popped her head around the doorway.

“We won’t make you,” she said, though the way Morgana was smirking said otherwise. “There’s this nice little pub called The Rising Sun. We just thought we’d show you. It’s where we like to go at the end of the day.”

“Yeah, alright,” Merlin agreed. “I’ll come.” He followed Morgana and Gwen out into the living room where Arthur was lounging on the couch. 

“Come on Arthur,” Morgana said. Striding over to the couch, she snatched the remote and turned the telly off. 

“Hey!” Arthur complained, but Morgana was already hauling him off the couch. 

“We’re going to The Rising Sun,” she told him. “Put your coat on. Come on.” Arthur opened his mouth to protest. “No, you can’t skip out,” Morgana said before he could get even one word out. “You need come get your arse beat at pool.”

“Fine,” Arthur snapped and stomped over to the front door to grab his coat and put his boots on.

The Rising Sun was nice and cozy. It was exactly the sort of place Merlin could see himself coming to after a day on the slopes. There was an old pool table in one corner and a fireplace diffusing the room with a soft, warm glow. Not many people were about, but ski season hadn’t started yet and even when it did Merlin was sure most resort goers preferred the trendy places in the resort village. They snagged a table near the fireplace and Gwen volunteered to go get the first round of drinks. Merlin liked how the chairs were all sort of mismatched, painted different colors and padded with cushions of varying design, but of the same make so that the differences served to add color to the room without looking chaotic. Framed pictures hung from the walls depicting scenes that Merlin realized must be the town from an earlier time and the surrounding forest.

“It’s a lovely little place isn’t it,” Gwen said, plunking a pint down in front of Merlin.

“It’s cozy,” Merlin said. He sat back, sipping at his beer while the conversation meandered, until Morgana made a comment that caught his attention.

“You’re a magical history major?” Merlin blurted. Arthur scowled and rolled his eyes, but Morgana smirked.

“One of very few,” she said proudly, shooting Arthur a look that clearly said whatever negative comments he had about it should be kept to himself.

“What about you Gwen?” Merlin asked.

“General history, with an emphasis on the medieval time period,” Gwen said. “But there’s some crossover with magical history.”

“Magical history is a waste of time,” Arthur cut in. “It’s not even relevant anymore.”

“Oh yeah? And what are you studying?” Merlin shot back. The more time he spent in Arthur’s company, the more he mourned the loss of such a fantastically fit bloke to a horrid personality.

“Arthur studies business,” Morgana said in a tone that indicated she thought of business majors the same way Arthur thought of magical history.

“Business is an extremely versatile degree,” Arthur protested.

“It’s also boring,” Merlin pointed out.

“Don’t tell me you’re another history major,” Arthur groaned.

“Merlin’s going to be a vet, actually,” Gwen said.

“Just a general vet or are you going to specialize?” Morgana asked.

“I haven’t decided,” Merlin said, because saying he was going to specialize in dragons wasn’t generally an acceptable thing to say outside of certain circles.

“Well, this whole conversation has been fascinating,” Arthur said, rolling his eyes in the most exaggerated way possible, just to make sure they knew he was being utterly sarcastic, “but it’s come to my attention that the pool table has just opened up.” Morgana gave Arthur a dark look, but pool was apparently more important than arguing. Merlin intended to stay at the table and work his way through his pint in peace, but-

“Come on Merlin, show us what you’ve got,” Morgana said, hauling him out his chair. Merlin scrambled to get his feet under him.

“I would really rather sit this out,” he protested.

“Oh come on, it’s fun!” Gwen insisted. “It’s just a little friendly competition.” Merlin stared at Gwen and contemplated reminding her that Arthur and Morgana hardly seemed the friendly competition sort. The way they were staring each other down over the table they looked more like they wanted to stab each other with the cues than play pool. Maybe Gwen had known them long enough that she’d grown immune to the Pendragon siblings and what was clearly an intense competitive streak between them. 

“Fine,” he muttered, mostly because it was clear he didn’t have a choice.

“Same rules?” Morgana asked.

Arthur nodded. “Loser buys shots.” Merlin sighed and decided to kiss any illusions that he would be sober by the end of the evening goodbye.

Sometime around the fourth game, when Merlin had finished his pint and had three shots of something that burned it’s way down his throat, he looked up from watching Morgana lean across the table in an effort to make her shot of choice to see they’d been joined by a man with gorgeous hair and a scruffy beard. He didn’t seem interested in joining the game, just watching. His presence seemed to have the effect of causing Arthur to scowl even more than he had before, if that were possible. Merlin stuck out his hand in the man’s general direction.

“Hi, I’m Merlin. You have a beard.”

The man threw his head back and laughed. He had a nice laugh. He grabbed Merlin’s hand in a firm handshake and replied, “Nice to meet you Merlin. I’m Gwaine. I own this place.”

“It’s a very fine establishment.” The words were a great deal more slurred than Merlin had intended it to be.

“You’ll have to excuse Merlin,” Morgana said, straightening up from what Merlin was sure had been a perfect shot if he’d been paying attention. “We seem to have underestimated his alcohol tolerance.”

“I told you I didn’t want to play pool!” Merlin reminded her. She just waved him off. “You’re mean. I’m gonna hang out with Gwen from now on. She’s nice.”

“New friend, I presume?” Gwaine asked.

“We’re breaking him in,” Morgana said.

“Your girlfriend terrifies me,” Merlin told Gwen. She giggled and hugged him. She’d been doing that quite a bit over the past half hour.

“Did you want something or are you just here to bother us?” Arthur snapped.

“It’s nice to see you too, princess.”

Merlin snorted. Princess. That only made Arthur scowl harder.

“It’s your shot Merlin,” Arthur grumbled. Merlin didn’t think he could make any kind of shot and was probably more likely to ruin the felt of the pool table, but he wasn’t one to back down.

“Ah, come on, don’t be like that princess,” Gwaine said while Merlin tried to line up a shot. Any shot would do really. He wasn’t feeling particularly picky right now. In fact, just hitting the cue ball would probably be a minor miracle.

“Don’t be so rude Arthur,” Morgana said. “Gwaine’s a friend.”

“Your friend maybe,” Arthur muttered. Merlin did manage to hit the cue ball. The cue ball just didn’t hit anything else, which was fine. He straightened up, proud that he could still kind of play pool after 3 shots of whatever they were drinking, and found Arthur and Gwaine glaring at each other. They stared each other down for several long moments until Merlin, swaying from the number of shots he’d consumed, declared, “Oh my gods, just whip out your dicks and compare already!” Arthur looked scandalized at the suggestion, but Gwaine smirked and said, “No need. I already know I win,” which made Arthur scowl before he sauntered back over to the bar. Arthur muttered several swear words under his breath and stomped off towards their table. Merlin frowned, turning to Gwen.

“What just happened?”

Gwen, also gone on several shots, giggled madly and grabbed onto Merlin’s shoulder to keep herself from falling over. Morgana stepped up to her girlfriend’s other side and slung a supportive arm around her waist.

“Arthur and Gwaine slept together a couple years ago,” she supplied.

“But they’re not dating or anything?” Merlin asked. Not that it mattered. At all. Why would it matter? It didn’t. Not one bit.

Morgana snorted. “They’d murder each other within a few minutes of the first date. Why do you want to know, Merlin?” Morgana’s smirk was positively evil.

“That is none of your business,” Merlin declared because he wasn’t drunk enough to think discussing anything even remotely related to his love life with Morgana was a good idea. Hopefully he never would be.

Merlin lost two more games of pool before they stopped playing. He was only dead last four out of their six games. He thought there might’ve been a crowd at one point, watching them and cheering for either Arthur or Morgana. Things kind of blurred together after that. There was dancing. And at one point Arthur and Gwaine had to catch him when he fell off a table.

“I’m gonna take him back,” Arthur said when he and Gwaine had finally got Merlin on his feet again. “Where’s his coat?”

“Back? But I’m having fun!” Merlin whined.

“You’re becoming a danger to yourself,” Arthur told him. Merlin let someone help him stuff his arms into the sleeves of his coat.

“You want some help getting him home?” Gwaine asked.

“No, I’ve got it,” Arthur said. He sounded like he was gritting his teeth. Then they were out the door of the pub and onto the street.

“You don’t like Gwaine,” Merlin observed after a while.

“He’s an overgrown child,” Arthur griped as he dragged Merlin up the street towards their cabin. Were Merlin a bit more sober he likely would have found himself thinking all sorts of inappropriate thoughts about the way Arthur insisted on keeping him plastered to his side. Supposedly to keep Merlin from stumbling into a lamp post or out into the street. Which, Merlin realized when he actually did almost stumble into a lamp post, was probably a perfectly valid reason.

“I think he’s nice,” Merlin slurred. “Nice and fluffy and hot. _Hot_. Hot!” Arthur’s scowl deepened. “I’m hot,” Merlin declared. “I should take my coat off.”

“You definitely should not do that,” Arthur said. “God, why did I have to get stuck dragging your drunk arse home?”

Merlin frowned. “But you volunteered?” He wasn’t entirely sure. His memory wasn’t the greatest at the moment. Arthur didn’t answer him and the rest of the walk home was made in silence, broken only by Merlin’s occasional drunken rambling.

  
____________________  


Morgana called him the next morning for the express purpose of listening to him groan miserably. She also explicitly told him that she had some very interesting videos she was considering putting on Facebook. Merlin wracked his brain desperately for memories from the previous night. With dawning horror he realized his last clear memory was of playing pool. After that it was all a blank until Arthur had brought him back. Morgana absolutely could not be allowed to post those videos anywhere because then Will would see them and no matter how much Merlin loved Will like a brother that didn’t change the fact that Will was an absolute wanker. She hung up cackling and Merlin spent a half hour asking himself why he was forming a friendship with her. The answer, he concluded, was that he liked Gwen and one apparently couldn’t be friends with Gwen without also being friends with Morgana.

He stumbled out of his room to bang around in the kitchen, which was terrible for his head. With a mug of tea in hand Merlin turned to head back to his room (maybe he would call his uncle and beg for the recipe to his hangover remedy) and found himself staring at Arthur. Startled, Merlin nearly threw his tea across the room, but managed to hold onto it at the last minute. Neither of them said anything. Merlin gradually noticed that they were both shirtless and self consciously crossed his arms in front of his chest while trying not to stare at Arthur’s.

“What?” Merlin finally snapped, regretting it a moment later when it ended up being too loud for his head. Arthur stared hard at him for a long minute. He pointed at the mug in Merlin’s hand.

“Don’t spill that.” And then he turned around and left. Merlin considered going after him just to dump hot tea all over his arrogant blond head, but it was a bit too much effort while he was still hung over. It was much easier to crawl back into bed and sip his tea while watching dumb videos on youtube.

Hours later, when he’d napped for a bit and the pounding in his head had lessened, Merlin found his eyes drifting to the folder Freya had given him at the cafe. He’d looked at the map out of necessity, but the folder had remained unopened on the desk while he took care of initial business. Merlin dragged his feet across the room to slump in the desk chair. The folder slipped from his hand the first time he picked it up. He groaned. When the pictures and info sheets were finally spread out over the desk Merlin lost himself in work. 

Time slipped by him. He poured over the documents with a growing sense of unease. Something didn’t seem quite right about the situation. Absence of organs and blood would indicate poachers, but...but. Something about it bothered Merlin. After some thought he texted Freya. They needed to talk again.

  
____________________  


They met at the same cafe the next morning. Merlin had the folder with him, which he immediately emptied when he sat down across from Freya.

“Something about this bothers me,” Merlin said. “I don’t think poaching is the main objective here.”

“What?” Freya looked confused. “They cut out the internal organs. That takes time. As does draining blood.”

“The bodies aren't completely stripped, as you usually see with poaching. I'd say the poaching was secondary to the kill. Almost like an after thought. Like they meant to just kill the dragon, but couldn't help harvesting a few useful parts."

Freya flipped through a few of the pictures. “What do you mean by completely stripped?”

“On the bodies you found were there any patches of dragon hide missing or scales?"

“No,” Freya said, realization dawning. “No, there weren’t. Not from what I could see.”

“It just- I could be completely wrong,” Merlin continued. “They could just specialise in organs.” Merlin frowned, studying the pictures a bit more. “I don’t know. It just seems like someone trying to make it look like poaching.”

“So they aren’t selling on the black market?” Freya asked. She was back to looking confused. 

“I would assume they are,” Merlin said. “If you’re gonna go through the trouble of harvesting a dead dragon’s organs you may as well get your moneys worth. I’ll look into recent black market sales on dragon parts and see if we can trace anything that way.”

“What should I do?” 

“They’d need some way of preserving the parts and then transporting them off the mountain to be sold,” Merlin pointed out. “My guess is they have a set up in their cabin for organ preservations and preparation for transport. At least two people are involved in the actual killing of a dragon and I’d assume they have a third to transport parts off the mountain, maybe even a fourth in charge of organ preservation.”

“I figured we’d be dealing with a group,” Freya said. 

“Two is the minimum for taking down a dragon. With most mountain breeds you’d want more like three or four.”

“This just keeps getting better and better.” Freya dragged her fingers through her hair. “Alright, I’ll keep an eye out for all of that and maybe start looking at the guest list for this year? Although a lot of people stay here.”

“We’ve got to start somewhere.” 

“Yeah.” Freya tapped her finger against the table while she thought. “Well, I guess this is the official start of our investigation.” Merlin scoffed, though it was weak. “I meant to ask, how were things with the dragons?”

“There’s seven adolescents left,” Merlin stated.

“Only seven?” Freya’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open for a moment. “Adolescents? No adults?”

“I suppose there could be one wondering about other parts of the territory,” Merlin admitted, “but I didn’t sense anything or see any signs of it.”

“This just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen,” Freya muttered. “How often will you be going out there?”

“Not as often as I probably should.”

“Why?”

“We have no idea who these people are and they obviously know what they’re doing,” Merlin said. “The last thing I want is to accidentally lead them closer to the remaining dragons.”

“Good point.” 

“I’m gonna head back to my cabin and see what I can get done today,” Merlin said. He gathered the pictures back into the folder.

“I can try and get a start on guest lists, but pre-season is pretty busy for me and most of the guests aren’t even here yet so I don’t know how much good it would do.”

“Do what you can. I’ll see you later.” Merlin headed out.

  
____________________  


Neither Merlin nor Freya made much headway in the days leading up to the resort opening. Merlin had sent off an email to his dad asking for information on the black market, but he wasn’t holding his breath. There was no guarantee anything would turn up. Maybe the parts hadn’t even been sold yet. Maybe they would never be sold. Merlin wasn’t sure what you’d do with an excess of illegal dragon parts unless you maybe made a living selling amulets of enchantment? Freya was often too busy to spare time for a search, although she had contacted a friend in the financial department who was doing some digging. Either way, they didn’t have much to go on yet. It was a relief to take a break from it all.

The day before the resort opened Freya took him out into the woods surrounding the town. Their journey was silent, but not unpleasantly so. Freya was what Merlin imagined having a big sister would be like. She’d fussed over his scarf before they left, making sure it covered Merlin’s neck entirely and that he could tuck his chin into it if it got windy and she’d frowned at the mess his hair made and she’d invaded the kitchen to make them a proper lunch. Merlin wondered if Freya would be able to take some time off after this season and come back to Wales with him, visit the reserve. She had an inherent fondness for magical creatures, even the great big dangerous ones like dragons.

“There’s a herd of unicorn around here,” she’d told him as they were heading out. “I see one occasionally. And the gnomes will probably start coming out soon. They like to mess with people by showing up in their yards like those ugly garden things.” There was a sparkle in her eye when she talked about magic. Merlin wondered if he got the same way when talking about dragons.

Afternoon sunlight filtered through the trees, glinting off the untouched snow and making it sparkle. The further they went from town the more Merlin could feel the magic of the forest. He could well believe that a herd of unicorn roamed in here. Freya lead him on, past a babbling stream of icy water where a deer was drinking. Finally they came to a clearing. Merlin knew the moment he’d stepped into the circle of trees that this ground was sacred. He paused there for a moment, breathing in the magic infused in the air. Looking closer at the branches he could see charms hanging from them.

“There are a few people from town who come out here,” Freya said. “I don’t know if you follow the old ways, but it’s also just a nice place to be by yourself.”

“I haven’t been very good about it lately, with uni and all that, but my dad raised me in the Old Religion,” Merlin told her. After a moment he asked, “Are there a lot of sorcerers in town?”

“No,” Freya replied. “I think there was once. I’ve found a few other sites like this, but this is the only one I know of that’s still in use.”

“Did you bring an offering?” was Merlin’s next question.

Freya scoffed. “Of course I did. I may not be big on all the old rituals, but I know how to show respect. Anyway, I just thought that since you’re going to be in the area all winter you should know where you can go.”

Merlin smiled warmly. “Thanks.”

Freya had brought bread freshly baked in her home that morning. They set it on the stone slab in the center of the clearing that served as an altar and knelt in the snow to offer their prayers. For a moment Merlin couldn’t remember any of the prayers he’d been taught in his childhood. He’d been so focused on his studies the last few years and hadn’t made it back often enough for the celebrations that had been an earmark of his childhood. It came back to him quickly. The Old Religion was a part of him and Merlin knew he would never truly forget it. He just had to shake off the cobwebs every so often.

They had the late lunch Freya had packed by the stream and talked about nothing in particular. When the sun was starting to fade they began making their way back to town, parting ways on the edge of the forest.

Merlin opened the door of the cabin and saw Morgana and Gwen standing just inside.

“Finally!” Morgana exclaimed. “We were starting to think you’d been kidnapped or something. Arthur said he had no idea where you went.”

“I went for a walk in the woods,” Merlin answered.

“Communing with nature?” Arthur asked snidely, appearing around the corner from the hallway. The red shirt he was wearing stretched nicely across his chest and Merlin had to forcefully pry his eyes away from the sight. He was pretty sure he could see Morgana smirking out of the corner of his eye.

“There’s only so long I can stand sharing space with your massive ego,” Merlin shot back. “Not to mention Freya’s a lot nicer than you.”

“That girl from Ski Patrol?” Gwen asked. “Is she a friend of yours?” Arthur was scowling as he pulled his boots on. He seemed to do a lot of scowling. Merlin wasn’t sure if it was him or if Arthur’s face just always looked like that.

“She knows my family,” he hedged. _We’re magical kin and she was showing me a secret place where I can follow my faith in peace_ would definitely bring nothing but unwelcome questions and really, it wasn’t much of a lie anyway.

“I didn’t realize you swung that way,” Morgana said because she was mean and evil and enjoyed making Merlin squirm. 

“I swing both ways,” Merlin said, just to clear that up once and for all. “And, really, she’s just a family friend. More like a sister really. Not to mention she has a husband.”

“Enough talk,” Arthur said, arm suddenly clamping around Merlin’s shoulders and dragging him back out the front door. “I thought we were supposed to be going out.”

“Wait, what?” Merlin wriggled out from Arthur’s grasp. “Why are we going out? What if I don’t want to go out?”

“We’re going to The Rising Sun,” Gwen explained. “It’s tradition the night before ski season officially opens.”

“And you don’t have a choice,” Morgana said and gladly took over the duty of dragging him onward to the pub. Merlin had the feeling a good deal of his evenings were going to be spent being dragged to the pub, whether he wanted to go or not.

“I’m not drinking this time,” he said. Morgana rolled her eyes. “I’m not!” he insisted. “I had the worst hangover last time.”

“I don’t know, I’d quite like to see you dancing on a table again,” Gwen said innocently. Merlin groaned.

“I didn’t,” he said. “That’s embarrassing.”

“You weren’t doing too bad,” Morgana said. “Arthur and Gwaine had to rescue you though when you accidentally stepped off the table and almost brained yourself on the floor. And then Arthur walked you home like a perfect gentleman.”

“Oh.” Merlin looked at Arthur as they claimed a table in the corner, but Arthur was studiously not looking at him. “I maintain that I’m not drinking this time. I really don’t need to injure myself in a pub before my first day of work.”

“I’m sure Arthur wouldn’t let that happen,” Morgana said and shared a significant look with Gwen that made Merlin distinctly uncomfortable. He was going to regret being friends with Morgana, he just knew it.

“I just don’t want a brain damaged idiot sharing my living space for the next few months,” Arthur muttered defensively. Then he smirked at Merlin. “Although who knows, maybe the brain damage would be an improvement.” Instead of starting a verbal sparring match Merlin went for the much more straight forward act of kicking Arthur in the shin under the table. Arthur glared.

“Now, now boys,” Morgana said. “If you keep flirting like this you’re going to have to get a room.”

Merlin’s face flushed red with embarrassment while Gwen giggled uncontrollably behind her hands. Whatever retort Arthur had ready to spit back at his sister was interrupted by Gwaine swaggering up to their table.

“Back for a repeat performance?” he said.

“I’m swearing off drinking for the rest of my life,” Merlin said.

“That’s a shame. I mean, before you fell off the table it was pretty impressive. Have you ever considered a career in stripping?”

“I’m pretty sure my parents would each have a heart attack if I declared I was abandoning vet school to become a stripper.”

“We’ll each have a pint,” Arthur cut in, rather sharply, in Merlin’s opinion. Gwaine turned to eye Arthur. The silence stretched on for a long tense moment.

“And what’s got your knickers all in a twist tonight princess?” the pub owner enquired.

“Nothing,” said Arthur testily. “I just want my drink sometime this year.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Gwaine cast an ambiguous look between Arthur and Merlin before returning to the bar.

“Is there a particular reason you have to be such an arse to Gwaine or is that really just your default setting?” Merlin asked.

“All he does is flirt,” Arthur said. “It’s annoying.”

“Well so far he’s been a lot nicer to me than you,” Merlin pointed out.

Arthur snorted. “That’s just because he wants to get in your pants.”

Merlin was tempted to kick him again. “Yeah? Well maybe I wouldn’t mind letting him in my pants. He’s pretty fit.”

Arthur opened his mouth, no doubt with a very rude, very inappropriate retort on his tongue, but Gwen elbowed him in the side before it could leave his mouth. Arthur snapped his jaw closed, glared at Gwen, and muttered something about playing a round of pool before practically stomping over to the pool table.

“You keep saying he’s actually nice under all that, but I’m still not seeing it,” Merlin said.

Morgana cast an unreadable look at her brother. “It’s only been a few days-”

“A week,” Merlin corrected.

“Whatever. Sometimes it takes some time for him to pull his head out of his arse.”

Merlin gave her a look full of skepticism. “Right.” Arthur wouldn’t ruin his night though, he decided. This was supposed to be a pre-ski season celebration. Merlin would do whatever he had to to nurse the same pint the whole evening and have a good time. If Arthur wanted to sulk, that was his problem.

  
____________________  


To Merlin's surprise, Arthur didn't leave without him on their first official day of work. In fact, he stood impatiently by his car in the cold morning air snapping for Merlin to hurry up or he would make them late. It was an uncomfortable car ride, what with the fact that they still didn't much like each other. Arthur acted like Merlin was gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe, putting up a fight every time he tried to scrape it off. Merlin liked to think that Morgana was right and that Arthur had a good heart underneath all his prattish behavior, because he liked to think the best of people, but he had yet to see it. This car ride was the first time Arthur had done a decent thing for him. Well, aside from that first trip to the pub when he'd dragged Merlin home when he'd been too drunk to walk straight. Most of that night was still a blur, though Merlin thought he remembered trying to take his coat off halfway up the street. And apparently he had danced on a table, but he was trying not to think about that or the fact that Morgana had videos of it on her phone.

At the resort they congregated in a staff room along with the other ski instructors. Merlin stood off to the side, unsure of what to do. He recognized a few of the faces around the room from seeing them at orientation, but he hadn’t talked to anyone. 

“And how are you this fine morning, Merlin?” 

Merlin glanced over and smiled at the familiar faces. “Gwen. Morgana. You look-” _tired_.

“What?” Morgana looked at him, expectant. 

“Good,” Merlin corrected. “You look good. Really good. Super good. I have never seen anyone look better. You are the best.” 

Gwen snorted into her hand. “Smooth,” she whispered. 

“Aren’t you just the cutest,” Morgana said, pinching his cheek. Merlin slapped her hand away and rubbed at his face. 

“Ow,” he said pointedly. All he got was a smirk before the girls wandered off.

Eventually their supervisor walked in and waved for quiet. “I’ve got your assignments for today right here,” he said. “Being the first day of operation there’s not a lot so some of you will have a free day.”

“Then why drag us up here,” Arthur muttered, sliding up besides him, and Merlin stifled an amused chuckle. 

“In the future, you’ll be notified of all assignments through email so make sure you check it daily,” the supervisor continued. “Now, a few reminders.” ‘A few reminders’ and the answer to Arthur’s sarcastic question ended up being an obligatory review of resort rules and procedures before they got to work or wandered off to enjoy a free day. It was just as boring as the PowerPoint from orientation and not nearly as entertaining with Morgana and Gwen on the other side of the room. Finally they were released from the staff room and Merlin went to collect his skis where he’d left them on a rack right outside the lodge.

Merlin’s first job of the season was a young couple looking to get some instruction so that they could at least somewhat enjoy their time on the slopes. They'd done this sort of thing once before, so they weren't complete newbies when it came to skiing, but as they went through a first run Merlin seriously considered telling them to stick to the green runs. Although who knew, maybe they’d improve.

When the ski lesson was over Merlin had marginally more confidence that the young couple wouldn’t be a complete disaster on the slopes. Kind of. He’d done his best, but they’d seemed a lot more interested in making sappy faces at each other than listening to his instruction. Merlin ran into Gwen when they ended up on the lift together, ready to enjoy the rest of his afternoon by himself.

“How’d your first lesson go?” she asked.

“Well, nobody died,” Merlin said.

Gwen laughed. “That’s always a plus. Who’d you have?”

“A young couple who will probably spend more time getting cozy in their room than they will skiing, but if they want to give us more of their money that’s on them.”

“That’s the spirit!” She punched his arm. Gwen punched hard. “I’m going to meet Morgana. She had a lesson this morning and I didn’t so we split for a while. You wanna come?”

“Sure.” They’d know all the best runs, having been up here so many times.

Morgana was lounging off to the side when Merlin and Gwen got off the lift.

“I see you picked up a stray,” she commented, getting smoothly to her feet and quickly snapping her skis on.

Merlin rolled his eyes. “You make me sound like some poor, lost little puppy.”

“That’s practically what you are,” Morgana said. Merlin flicked snow at her with his ski.

“Alright children,” Gwen said, waving a pole in between them. “That’s enough of that. I came up here to ski and I will leave without you if I have to.”

It was a good afternoon. They stuck mostly to blues for two hours, braked for lunch, and then Gwen lead them off to her favorite black diamond runs. Merlin hadn’t been skiing in ages, since before uni at least, if not longer. With it being the first day of ski season there weren’t yet a lot of people up on the slopes, leaving them wide open. It was a good thing because Morgana had a fondness for turning their runs into races and she was ruthless about it. They finally took a breather at the bottom of a blue run.

“Next time you guys feel the need to bet shots on anything we should do ski races,” Merlin said. “Because I can actually win some of those.”

“That’s not a bad idea actually,” Gwen said. She nudged Morgana with her pole. “Why haven’t we thought of that?”

“Because clearly we aren’t as brilliant as Merlin.” There was an edge of good natured sarcasm to Morgana’s remark that Merlin decided was beneath his notice. Just as he was opening his mouth to reply he was sprayed with a shower of snow.

“ _Arthur_!” he heard one of the girls shriek and when he looked up he just caught sight of the familiar red and black ski coat he’d seen that morning. Merlin wiped snow off his goggles and glared down the mountain after Arthur.

“He’s going to pay for that,” Merlin declared.

“I hope you make it good,” Morgana said.

“Oh I will.”

  
____________________  


The perfect revenge came that evening when Arthur was taking a shower. One thing Gaius had been very clear about since Merlin was a child was that his magic was not a toy to be used for his amusement. Unfortunately, the lesson didn’t sink in very well, on account of his dad, who liked to use his magic to play pranks on his fellow Dragonlords. He’d often enlisted Merlin’s help. One of the most basic magical pranks, and one of the first ones Merlin had ever learned, was changing water temperature when someone was in the shower.

Arthur took long showers. Merlin didn’t know what he did in there. He knew, courtesy of Elena, that girls took longer showers because they shaved their entire leg, _both_ of them. What was Arthur’s excuse? It didn’t matter. Merlin waited ten minutes, when Arthur would be nice and relaxed and warm, completely unsuspecting. Then he mumbled the spell and listened with a pleased smile as his roommate shrieked. A few moments passed. Then Merlin heard the stomp of angry footsteps coming closer. Arthur threw open the door to his room, angry and glaring, water dripping onto the hardwood flooring of the hallway. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and nothing more and Merlin had to work hard not to stare at anything below Arthur’s neck.

“I don’t know how,” Arthur said, voice low and dangerous, “but you did that.”

Merlin affected an expression of innocent bewilderment. “Did what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Emrys. Somehow you made the water in my shower ice cold.”

“From my room?” Merlin asked. “That hardly seems likely, does it? Besides, what reason could I possibly have for wanting to ruin your shower?”

Arthur stood there glaring at him for a bit longer before slamming the door closed. Merlin could hear him stomping back to the bathroom and smirked. _Take that, Pendragon_.

  
_____________________  


Arthur was still upset with him the next day. Merlin didn’t see why. It was a harmless little cold shower. Thankfully, he didn’t have to put up with Arthur’s suspicious looks for long. He didn’t have any lessons that day, but Arthur did. An empty cabin was a nice, peaceful place to enjoy your morning tea and the weather was pretty nice as well. A walk sounded nice. So Merlin bundled up and meandered leisurely through the forest. He found himself heading in the direction of the private, sacred little place Freya had shown him. That little forest clearing Freya was looking like it was going to get a lot of use over the coming months if the cabin situation continued as it was. Merlin stared at the little stone altar. “Is it appropriate to pray to the Triple Goddess for help with arrogant prats who happen to be really hot?”

“Why don’t you try it and find out?”

Merlin turned and saw Freya approaching through the trees. She pulled out an apple and set it next to the one Merlin had already placed.

“So,” Freya said after she’d said a short prayer. “Boy problems?”

“In spades,” Merlin said. “Are you sure it’s too late to find somewhere else to stay?”

“You’re welcome to look, but I can almost guarantee you the only place you’ll find is resort accommodation.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

They let the minutes drift by in silence. It was partly cloudy that day, sunlight occasionally disappearing behind a cottony cloud. Sometimes Merlin could spot movement in the shade of the trees. Once he thought he might’ve seen a unicorn.

“You want to go get some coffee and talk?” Freya suggested after a bit.

“Sure.”

They weren’t quick about it. The day was so nice and Merlin wanted to enjoy it, as did Freya from the looks of it. Occasionally she would point out a tree where a forest nymph was living and once she pointed out a small, overgrown pathway that led to a cave where snow gnomes lived.

“Someone from town told me there used to be fairies around here,” Freya said.

“Used to?”

Freya just shrugged. 

The café was mostly empty. Freya snagged a seat by the window while Merlin volunteered to order drinks. He had the feeling he was soon going to be in love with the hot chocolate they made here. It was honest to god some of the most heavenly stuff he had ever had the privilege of drinking. He’d drank almost half his mug before they finally decided to talk business.

“They have to have been staying all year round,” Freya said. “Or at least, whenever the resort is open.”

“And out in one of the cabins instead of the hotels,” Merlin added. “For more privacy. There can’t be a lot of people that do that. Are we sure they’re not staying here in town? Then they could have year round access to the mountain.”

“Possible, but unlikely. New arrivals are noticed around here. I’ll ask around though.”

Merlin sipped his hot chocolate. “I’ve got nothing on the black market front,” he said. “We’re still looking though. It’s worth keeping an eye on.” 

“I’ll speak to my contact in finance. She should be able to get us a list of guests.” Freya sighed, frustrated. “I get why magic retreated from the public eye, I really do,” she said. “But it makes things so much harder. If magic were known to the public there would be laws against things like dragon poaching.”

“Things will change someday.” Merlin reached across the table to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. 

Freya’s smile was tired. “I hope you’re right.” She drained her tea. “Well I suppose that’s all the business we have right now. Guess I’ll go surprise Percy at work or something. Let me know if you need help with anything. Except the flight. I doubt I’d be much help with that.”

Merlin smiled. “I appreciate the offer anyway.” He wondered what the dragons would think if he tried to have a giant winged cat play mediator between them. They probably wouldn’t be too happy.

  
____________________  


For three days straight Merlin was stuck teaching lessons. He still wasn’t entirely sure this whole ski instructor cover thing was the best idea, though he did see the merit in having an excuse for his presence up there, should something go disastrously wrong and bring government authorities down on them. On his next free day Merlin knew it was high time he returned to the dragon den to check on the flight. He’d do a follow up on Alcaeus’s injury and see if he could find signs of where the poachers were currently searching and just how far they’d made it into dragon territory. For all he knew the seven young dragons were on the verge of being discovered.

Freya had arranged for a snowmobile to be available to him and Merlin kept a pack in his locker at the resort, so despite having the freedom to sleep in he caught a ride up with Arthur anyway. Arthur had turned out to be remarkably nice in that sense. It was a bit easier to see why Morgana and Gwen kept saying he had a heart. The nicety came with a great deal of moaning and complaining about what a burden Merlin was and questions as to why he hadn’t brought his own car, but Merlin dealt with it for the sake of convenience. Morgana, he was sure, would have happily offered to take him to and from the resort, but Merlin didn’t really trust her reckless driving. Arthur at least drove like a sane person.

“You can leave whenever you want,” Merlin said when they arrived. “I can just catch a late bus. They all go through town.”

“I’ll be staying until closing, so you may as well save yourself the trouble and just meet me back here at 4:30,” Arthur said. “Unless you’re leaving before that, then yeah, you should probably catch a bus.” It was all said flippantly, like Arthur could care less what Merlin did and maybe that was the truth, but he was still offering to drive Merlin home at the end of the day.

“You know, if you’re not careful I might start to think you’re a decent person,” Merlin said.

Arthur scoffed. “Idiot.”

“Prat.”

“Just remember, if you don’t show up at 4:30 I’m leaving you here.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

They parted ways after the locker room, Arthur heading off to his first ski lesson of the morning and Merlin making for the shed where Ski Patrol kept their snowmobiles. No one was in there, but Freya had stuck a note to the snowmobile Merlin could borrow. She’d even topped off the fuel tank for him and checked it over to make sure there were no issues.

The trip to the den seemed shorter the second time around. Merlin had barely set foot in the cave before finding himself flat on his back. He shoved Cyrus off his chest. “I’m glad you’re happy to see me,” Merlin said, dusting off his clothes, “but please don’t do that.” His back hurt. By tomorrow he would probably find bruising when he checked. As if in apology for Cyrus’s overeager greeting, Gaia gently curled her tail around his leg, just as she had when he’d left after the first visit. Merlin smiled. He quite liked Gaia, if only because she seemed to be the most well behaved of the flight. Unlike Theron or Elpis or even Euanthe, she probably never went looking for fights. Smiling, he spared a moment to scratch her head affectionately. Merlin had always thought dragons were a bit like giant, scaly cats. Generally well behaved, independent, but completely willing to claw your face off if you gave them a reason. They did love belly rubs though.

“Lets get business out of the way, okay guys?”

He looked at Alcaeus first. The scratches along his flank looked alright. No signs of infection or anything else of concern. Euanthe had earned herself a scrape on her left front leg since the initial visit.

“And who were you fighting with?” he asked as he looked over the injury. It was minor, nothing to worry about. Merlin used some disinfectant and wrapped it up anyway. Euanthe wasn’t quite an adult yet, though she was close, and that left her more vulnerable than a fully adult dragon would be to infections. It never hurt to be careful. “Bet it was your brother, wasn’t it?” Theron and Euanthe seemed to have the whole squabbling siblings thing down almost as well as Arthur and Morgana. 

The rest of the flight was fine. No one had gotten sick and there were no major injuries. But the air of the cave was tense. His dad had said they wanted to keep the flight on Mount Albion if at all possible, but Merlin had his doubts. Young dragons with no guidance from elders were dangerous to each other. Maybe once they had a chance to spread back out to other caves things would improve. There were other concerns though. Things like Cyrus not yet knowing how to hunt. Moving them to the resort, at least temporarily, seemed like a good move. After that they could be moved back to the mountain with a few others or even transferred to other flights. He’d have to talk to his dad about it.

Merlin spent a few more minutes in the cave, further observing the dynamics of the dragons. In general, they seemed to get along alright. No one hated anyone, at least. Hopefully they’d stay relatively well behaved while he took a look around the area. He started with some of the other caves.

That was how he found the dragon egg.

He almost missed it. There were a lot caves in the area. Merlin wasn’t investigating every single one. That would take too much time and he wasn’t even being thorough about his investigations. If there were other dragons in the area, especially adult ones, they wouldn’t be letting a bunch of adolescents govern themselves while all crammed into the same den space. Still, there might be clues as to what had happened. This particular cave had bones on the floor, dragon from the looks of it. They were old bones though, decades old. Merlin turned to leave, to move on to the next cave, when the little light in his palm glinted off something. Merlin glanced over into the corner, took one step towards the cave entrance, and then looked again. He crouched in front of the object and-

“A dragon egg,” Merlin breathed. He’d seen plenty of them on the reserve. Hatching dragon eggs was part of what they did, but that had never stopped Merlin from being amazed every time he laid eyes on one. The egg was blue at its base and faded to white at its tip. All the jewels in the world couldn’t compare to the sight Merlin beheld in that cave. He tossed the light from his hand so that it floated near him, then took his gloves off and gently lifted the egg. It was warm, like most dragon eggs Merlin had held. He probed at it with his magic and frowned. There was something…strange. He couldn’t put his finger on it. Just something…strange. Different. He tried to determine when it would hatch. Merlin had always been good at that. He tried, gods know he did, but he got nothing. It was almost like the dragonling inside was…was dead. But that couldn’t be. Merlin could still feel it and it felt perfectly alive. Very strange indeed. He tucked the egg securely into his pack and continued on to the rest of the caves. When he was done, he decided to leave it with the other dragons. Taking it back to the cabin was tempting, but what if it hatched? Or worse, what if it hatched while he wasn’t there? No, better to leave it here.

He puzzled over it the entire journey back, distracted to the point of nearly driving the snowmobile into a tree. Despite his confusion though he was also excited. Thinking about all the dragons that had been killed on this mountain in the past year was depressing. Finding an egg, alive and well even if it was strange, had a little string of hope curling warmly around his heart. Now more than ever Merlin was determined to keep the poachers away from the dragons.

  
____________________  


The cafe, it seemed, was to be their preferred meeting spot. Merlin didn’t mind. As he’d predicted, he was completely in love with their hot chocolate and was perfectly happy for any excuse to have a mug full of it. Today he’d learned that you could get marshmallows with it. And not tiny little marshmallows that would melt into the hot chocolate before you got a chance to eat them. Big marshmallows.

“I can’t believe they never mentioned marshmallows before,” Merlin said, setting his mug down with reverence. When he glanced over at Freya she had her hand pressed over her mouth to suppress her giggles. “What? You should never underestimate the power of marshmallows in hot chocolate.” 

“Whatever you say.” She didn’t sound convinced, but that was alright. Merlin had an entire season to correct her misguided ways. “Moving on, I’ve got a list.” Freya pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and smoothed it out on the table before sliding it over to him. “All the people who have stayed at the resort all year round. Or as close as you can get to it.” It was short, as was to be expected. Not many people had the time and money to spend almost an entire year at a resort like Albion. None of the names jumped out as familiar. 

“I’ll email this to my dad and see if we have any of these names on file,” Merlin said. 

“I doubt our poachers are using real names,” Freya pointed out.

“Probably not,” Merlin agreed. “But we have a number of aliases in our database. Not all of them attached to real names, unfortunately, but it’s something.” 

Freya flicked a crumb off the table, scowling. "I hate this," she muttered.

"Yeah, me too." Merlin scrubbed his hands over his face, then glanced at the time. "I better go. Morgana said she wants to kick my arse at pool again." Freya snorted, waving him off. 

Merlin arrived back at the cabin to a blazing row between the Pendragon siblings.They shouting could be heard from down the street. When he got inside he saw they squared off against each other in the living room, Arthur wearing a veneer of calm while Morgana seethed, nails digging into her palms. She looked moments away from leaping at her brother to tear his throat out. Gwen was leaning against the wall, frowning down at her phone. Merlin joined her and saw that she was typing out random strings of letters into a note taking app.

"What's going on?" he whispered.

"We came over to fetch you for pool at the Rising Sun," Gwen said, keeping her voice low. Neither of them were particularly eager to attract attention to themselves. "Arthur made a very negative comment about magic, as you'd expect him to, Morgana got defensive, and it escalated from there."

"She looks ready to kill him," Merlin pointed out. "I get that magical history is important to Morgana, but isn't this a bit much?"

Gwen's eyes flickered up to take in the argument and she sighed. "Morgana didn't sleep very well last night and she can be very touchy when she's tired."

Merlin watched the stare down. Both siblings seemed to be carefully considering their next move.

"Well?" Morgana finally snapped.

"What?" Arthur shrugged.

"Oh don't play stupid, Arthur, just be a decent human being for once and apologize!"

"Apologize for what?" Arthur insisted. "I stated my opinion. It's not my fault you're too sensitive to handle it."

Morgana's eyes flashed dangerously. "Too sensitive to handle it?" she screeched. "Fuck you! We both know you're just doing this to antagonize me!"

"Do you think we should break their eye contact?" Merlin asked.

Gwen looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"You know, like you're supposed to do with dogs?" And dragons, but he'd stick with the dog analogy. Gwen laughed. Arthur and Morgana both whipped around to face them, startled, no doubt having forgotten that there were other people in the room. Morgana visibly composed herself.

"Merlin," she said. "I assume you're ready to go?"

"I've gotta email something to my dad real quick," he replied. "I'll meet you out front." Morgana's nod was a bit stiff and she radiated irritation as she went out the front door, Gwen trailing behind her. Arthur scoffed, drawing Merlin's attention back to him. There were a lot of things he could say about Arthur's behavior, but he doubted he would be listened to. Merlin settled for giving Arthur a withering look and going to his room to email the list to his father. With any luck they'll have one of the names on file, making Merlin and Freya's job a bit easier.

Morgana and Gwen were talking in hushed tones when he came outside. As soon as they spotted him they ceased their discussion. Merlin was curious, but he wouldn't pry. He hadn't known them that long and they weren't required to tell him all their secrets. Although sometimes Merlin felt like he'd known them for ages already.

The walk over to The Rising Sun was subdued. Morgana remained silent, still upset about the argument. There were shadows under her eyes and a pallor to her skin that went beyond it's natural pale complexion. Gwen was holding her hand, darting the occasional concerned look at her girlfriend. Merlin let the silence stay until they reached the pub.

"I'll get the first round," he offered and left the girls to claim the pool table. Gwaine was working his bar today and the smile he shot Merlin when he approached went a long ways to lifting his spirits. He didn't even have to ask before Gwaine pulled out three glasses.

"You look like you've been having a fun day," the pub owner commented.

"It definitely could've been better," Merlin said.

"Wanna share?"

Merlin smiled. "Nah. Appreciate the offer though. No, I'm just here to get my arse kicked at pool again."

"That'll cheer Morgana right up," Gwaine said. "She looks like she could use it."

Merlin glanced over his shoulder and caught Morgana's scowl. "She and Arthur had a big row just now," he confided. "Gwen said she didn't get enough sleep last night and it just got out of control." Gwaine's nod was sympathetic.

"Yeah, it happens occasionally. Speaking of the princess, how're things going between the two of you?"

Merlin wrinkled his nose. "He's a prat.” Then, before he could stop himself, “Did you really sleep with him?"

Gwaine shrugged. "You saying you wouldn't if you had the opportunity?"

Yes. "I don't know. To be honest, he can be nice. I mean, he gives me a ride up to the resort every day and he hasn't left me stranded up there yet. He let me add my favorite foods to the grocery list. And then he goes and shoves snow down my coat or insults me or yesterday he hid my gloves and I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of skiing without gloves."

"Yeah, he can definitely be difficult," Gwaine acknowledged. "But think about it this way. Would someone as sweet and kind as Gwen hang around Arthur if he didn't have a few decent qualities?"

"I suppose not," Merlin admitted. He gathered the glasses. "Well this has been an interesting chat, but I'm supposed to be getting beat at pool right now."

"Have fun with that."

When he turned away from the bar it was to see Morgana smirking at him from where she leaned against the pool table, absently listening to whatever Gwen was saying.

"What?" he said, handing the girls their drinks.

"Nothing," Morgana said airily. "Just think you're flirting with Gwaine was cute."

That took Merlin by surprise. "We weren't flirting. We were talking about Arthur."

"Looked a lot like flirting to me. What do you think Gwen?"

"Actually, I can believe that Merlin wouldn't recognize flirting," Gwen said. "But Gwaine was definitely flirting."

Merlin threw his hands up. "I give up! You two are impossible! Can’t we just play pool and forget about my love life?"

"Fine, change the subject," Morgana relented. She cheered up considerably after winning the first game and declared, “We should do loser buys shots.”

“No,” Merlin shot down immediately. “Absolutely not. I have to teach a group of little kids tomorrow and I refuse to be hung over for that.”

“Spoilsport,” Morgana pouted. In the next moment she was dismissing it with a wave of her hand before leaning over to line up her first shot of the next game. “Another time then.”

  
____________________  


Merlin didn’t know how he managed to stumble upon the body in the midst of winter. He’d just meant to take a look around the area, looking for anything out of the ordinary that would indicate the presence of the poachers. He hadn’t thought he’d happen upon much. He certainly hadn’t thought he’d happen upon one of the deceased dragons. A quick examination revealed that the dragon had been cut open and her organs harvested. The sight of the long incision along her stomach was sickening and Merlin had to turn his eyes away to avoid throwing up. Her scales, once a beautiful indigo, were dull and lifeless and Merlin’s heart ached with his sadness. He knelt in the snow and rested his forehead against the ridge of her brow for a few moments.

This was too close to the den, Merlin realized. It was only the enchantments around the cave that had kept it from being discovered, but there was no doubt in Merlin’s mind that whoever was killing the dragons knew they were close. Sighing, Merlin stood. He stuck around long enough to say a quiet prayer, then made his way back to the den. Paranoia had him looking over his shoulder and using magic to shield his presence. He would have to be much more careful about coming to the den in the future, just to be safe.

The rest of his time at the den was spent strengthening the protective spells already in place and adding his own. All the while he could feel the dragons watching him silently from deeper in the cave. Before he left, Merlin spent some time just offering comfort to his dragon kin. Even the Menodora crawled out of her nest to lay her head by Merlin. He was reluctant to leave, more so than usual. He came this close to tucking the vulnerable dragon egg into his pack, but knew that was a stupid idea. What if it hatched in the cabin? How the hell was he supposed to keep a baby dragon secret from Arthur? It wouldn’t end well, Merlin knew that much, so he forced himself to leave the egg where it was.

“You lot just make sure to look out for it alright?” he said to the rest of the dragons. In response, Elpis curled her tail protectively around the egg. Merlin smiled. They’ll be fine, he told himself. They were well protected here and now that Merlin was around he could get to the bottom of this and make the mountain safe for the dragons once again.

He was on foot that day, seeing as the only spare snowmobile that day was in need of repairs, and just leaving dragon territory when he encountered positive proof that there were poachers on the mountain. He ducked behind some snow covered boulders just in time to avoid being seen. Coming out of the trees was a man. As Merlin watched, the man stopped, looked around the area, and pulled out a radio. He was too far away for Merlin to hear what he was saying, but it was clear he was searching for something. It wasn’t that farfetched to guess he was searching for the dragons’ territory. Merlin continued to watch him, tense and anxious. Finally, the man left, heading away from the dragons. Merlin released the breath he’d been holding.

When he got back to the resort and was climbing onto the bus that would take him back into town Merlin found he couldn’t muster the energy to be anything but listlessly morose. He didn’t even have the heart to get irritated when Arthur called him an idiot for sloshing soup all over the table.

“Is everything alright?” Arthur asked, frowning. Merlin barely glanced up from where he was mopping up the soup with a rag.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” He was aware his tone was flat and completely unconvincing, but he couldn’t help it. Dragons weren’t just creatures of magic. They were his kin. Dragonlords shared the blood of dragons. To see one dead and defiled tore his heart to pieces. But he could hardly explain all of that to Arthur.

“It’s just that you look like a kicked puppy,” Arthur told him. “So I ask again, is everything alright?”

“I’m just…missing home a bit right now,” Merlin deflected. He was surprised to find it was true. Not so much missing home, he supposed, as missing the presence of his father. Balinor Emrys had decades of experience with dragons. Merlin had grown up on the reserve, sure, but this was still his first time handling things without his dad to fall back on for advice and support.

“Right.” Arthur stared at him for a moment, looking as if he wanted to say something or do something. But then it passed and he was walking out of the kitchen. Merlin finished cleaning up in silence before shutting himself away in his room for the rest of the night.

  
____________________  


The day Sophia showed up was the day Merlin decided the universe was all one great big joke and he was the punch line. Merlin liked to say he wasn’t a judgmental person, and for the most part that was true. He believed in the whole you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover thing. But the minute he heard Sophia’s strident tones drifting towards him on the wind he groaned in anticipation of a horrible morning. From her shiny new helmet to the way she stood, hands on her hips and chest puffed out in an obvious bid for male attention, Sophia screamed entitled brat. And she was Merlin’s responsibility for the next two hours. An arm landed on his shoulder, heavy and jostling.

“Good luck with that one,” Arthur said, mouth practically against Merlin’s ear, and then walked off to the group of 7-9 year olds he was in charge of. Merlin stood frozen to the spot for a solid minute, willing himself not to get an erection by thinking about that one time when he was ten and he’d seen far too much of his uncle and his uncle’s girlfriend in a very compromising position. It wasn’t pleasant but it worked. As he approached Sophia, Merlin reminded himself that he shouldn’t judge her so quickly. Maybe Sophia wasn’t all that bad.

“Hello, I’m Merlin and I’ll be your ski instructor this morning!” Merlin stuck his hand out for handshake. Sophia ignored it in favor of sneering at him.

“You?” she said, sounding highly affronted. Merlin’s hand dropped back to his side and the smile he’d plastered on his face turned wooden. Okay, so maybe his initial impression of her was pretty spot on after all.

“Yeah, me,” Merlin said. “Shall we get started?”

Sophia’s only redeeming quality was that she wasn’t a complete beginner, meaning Merlin didn’t have to spend two hours walking her through how to hold her poles and point her skis in the right direction on the bunny slope. They would definitely be sticking with green runs though. Halfway up the chairlift Merlin glanced at Sophia and imagined taking her down a blue run instead of a green and watching her fumble her way down the slope, maybe over some moguls, just to make it more interesting. But he couldn’t do that. That would be irresponsible. Besides, Sophia might complain to Merlin’s boss and get him fired. That wouldn’t be good.

The lesson dragged on. Merlin just couldn’t find any positive qualities in Sophia. Part of him knew there had to be something, some little snippet of a positive attribute, but he couldn’t be bothered to look for it. On top of that, he just got this weird vibe from Sophia. It set him on edge, made him feel like he needed to be on his guard around her, though he couldn’t fathom why. By the time he declared the lesson over he was more than ready to be as far away as possible from Sophia. Hopefully she wouldn’t be taking any more lessons while she was up there. Maybe she wouldn’t even be staying long. Merlin could only hope.

“She’s a self entitled brat,” he complained on the drive home.

“An attractive self entitled brat,” Arthur said.

“If you bring her anywhere near the cabin I will make sure you have cold showers for the rest of your life,” Merlin threatened.

“Relax,” Arthur said. “I don’t plan to.”

“Good.” Merlin would keep her as far away from himself as possible if it was the last thing he did.

  
____________________  


“You got my email about the alias, right?” Merlin asked before he’d even sat down. He’d practically sprinted over to the cafe after getting back from ski lessons for their arranged meeting.

“I did,” Freya confirmed. 

“And?”

“Did some digging. Found the alias, but not much else. Except this.” Freya slid a paper across the table. "Everything at the resort is paid for by a third party."

"Does it say who?" Merlin asked, scanning the document himself.

"Not from what I can tell. I'll see if I can get my contact in finances to do a bit more digging, but someone with this kind of money no doubt has the resources to remain anonymous."

"Can we at least get an idea of the number of people we're dealing with?"

“Considering the variation in cabin size, not to mention the fact that people could be sleeping on couches or even the floor, it doesn’t look promising,” Freya said. “They have two two-bedroom cabins and a handful of one-bedrooms. But like I said, there’s no way to tell how many people are actually staying there. They find hotel rooms packed with unregistered guests all the time.”

Merlin sighed. “And here I thought we had a lead.” 

“We’ve still got time,” Freya said.

“But who knows when we’ll run out,” Merlin reminded her. “We really need to make headway on this.”

“Whoever these people are they’re good. Honestly, I’m not sure we’ll ever get anything much on them.”

Merlin didn’t like the sound of that, but the way things were going Freya was probably right. They’d just have to keep trying and hope their luck changed.

  
____________________  


On his next visit up to the cave Merlin found himself seated before the dragon egg, puzzling over it.

“What am I supposed to do with you?” Merlin muttered. The egg was baffling. Merlin had made a bit of a name for himself when he was a kid by accurately predicting, down to the second, when dragonlings would hatch from their eggs. But this one…this one was confusing. It wasn’t a matter of waiting for it to hatch, that much Merlin could tell. But he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Not for the first time he reached out to cradle the egg in his hands. He closed his eyes. He could feel the dragonling inside. Tendrils of his magic stretched out towards it. An answering tendril greeted it. Merlin started, nearly dropping the egg. That hadn’t happened before.

Cautious now, Merlin repeated his actions. Again, his own questing magic was met with the dragonling’s. Merlin remembered stories Kilgharrah had told him on those nights when he would sit among the dragons and gaze at the stars. Kilgharrah had said that in his day, back when he’d still been a young dragon, his kind had been called into the world by the Dragonlords. Merlin had never heard of anything like that happening in his lifetime. Like any other creature from an egg dragonlings stayed inside for a period of incubation before hatching. But nothing about this egg suggested it was anything like the ones Merlin had been watching hatch since he could remember. Maybe…

“Well, it’s worth a shot,” Merlin said to himself. The rest of the cave had gone silent. When Merlin looked over his shoulder the other dragons were all watching him with rapt attention. Even Menodora had woken from her sleep to watch. It was a little nerve wrecking. Merlin turned back to the egg, determined. How had Kilgharrah said it went?

_“Young dragons were once called into the world by the Dragonlords.”_

_Merlin looked up at the large dragon, eight year old eyes wide with curiosity. “How did they do it?”_

_“By giving the dragon a name.”_

_“How did they know it was the right name?”_

_Kilgharrah chuckled. “You will know when the time is right, young warlock.”_

A name. Merlin took a deep breath. How did he find the name? His eyes slipped closed as he concentrated. _You will know when the time is right_. He pushed everything else aside, searching for that part of him that connected him with his dragon kin. There was something there, just out of reach.

“ _Aithusa_ ,” he rasped, voice rough with the dragon tongue. At first, nothing happened. Then there was a crack. Merlin’s eyes snapped open. He almost forgot to breathe, overcome with awe, as more cracks spidered along the egg. The first fragment popped off and a tiny, clawed foot appeared. The rest of the egg collapsed revealing the dragonling.

“Oh,” Merlin breathed. She was beautiful. Merlin watched as she shook the remnants of the shell from her white scales and toddled a few steps across the floor of the cave. He held one hand out and she sniffed at it hesitantly. Aithusa chirruped before clambering into his lap. Merlin laughed. She was absolutely lovely.

Now, what was he supposed to do with her?

  
____________________  


The Rising Sun was a nice, quiet place in the late morning when it had just opened. There was one old man seated by the fire with a newspaper, but otherwise the only other soul in the pub was Gwaine. They made eye contact when Merlin came in, but something about his expression must have tipped Gwaine off that Merlin didn’t want to chat because he stayed where he was on the other side of the room, wiping down tables. Merlin took a seat at the bar and just let his mind go blank for a few minutes. He needed the break. Things just kept getting more complicated. He definitely needed a nice long vacation when this was all over.

Foremost on his mind at the moment was Aithusa, newly hatched as of yesterday. Merlin recalled all the dragonlings he’d helped raise throughout his life. There wasn’t anything in particular he could point to that made Aithusa different from them, other than the gleaming white of her scales. It would probably be best to talk to his dad. Maybe even to talk to Kilgharrah. Would it be possible to set up a Skype session with a dragon? The reserve had pretty good wifi, he’d have to ask. 

Gwaine moved behind the bar. “What’re you thinking about?”

“Stuff,” Merlin said. 

“Arthur related stuff?”

“ _No_. Why do I have to be thinking about Arthur?” Merlin demanded. 

“You don’t, I was just asking. What were you thinking about?”

Merlin considered for a moment. “Cats.” Gwaine snorted laughter. “No really, I was thinking about cats,” Merlin insisted, smiling a little himself. Dragons and cats were similar. Kind of. They both had claws. 

"He watches you a lot," Gwaine said matter of factly.

The subject change threw Merlin off. "What?"

"Arthur watches you a lot."

Merlin scoffed. "I think you must be seeing things."

"Definitely not," Gwaine insisted. "Bet he spends a lot of time staring at your arse too."

Merlin chose to ignore the comment, partly because he had strong suspicions that it was true and he didn’t want to encourage this conversation. He was saved from finding a new topic by the arrival of a customer. Gwaine moved away to serve the woman. Not having spent a lot of time in this town he couldn’t be sure, but Merlin didn’t think the woman was from around there. 

“She’s been staying at the resort with some friends,” Gwaine reported when he came back over. “They’re staying for a few more days, but she’s got work tomorrow morning and it’s a long drive back. She thought she’d stop for a bite to eat and a pint before she got going though.”

Something occurred to Merlin at those words. "Would you say a lot of people stop in for pint down here before heading out?" he asked carefully.

Gwaine looked thoughtful. "I wouldn't say a lot," he answered. "People who want to avoid the crowds you'd find up at the resort village."

"Would you notice anyone unusual?"

Gwaine was eyeing him suspiciously now. "Why are you asking?"

"It's important," Merlin hedged. "Please, Gwaine." The bar owner gave him another unsure look, but nodded.

"Do you mean unusual as in unfamiliar?"

Merlin shook his head. "No, not necessarily. They'd probably stop by fairly often actually. A bit suspicious, keeps to themselves, maybe pays strictly with cash so there's no paper trail?"

"What are you, a cop?" Gwaine said it good naturedly, like a joke, but there was a serious question in his eyes.

"A concerned citizen?" Merlin tried. Gwaine chuckled.

"Alright, keep your secrets mate. Yeah, I can think of a couple guys like that, now that you mention it.”

“Do they all come in at once or…?”

“No, I’ve never seen them all at once.”

“Do they switch off days-”

Gwaine shook his head. “It started last winter,” he said. “Only ever one guy, stops by for a pint, sticks to his own little corner of the bar, then heads out. Usually see him for a few months and then there’s a new guy. Something’s never seemed quite right about them, but they don’t cause any trouble for me and they’re paying customers.”

“They pay with cash?”

“They pay with cash.”

This had to be something. Finally, after hitting a dead end with the list of names, Merlin had found another lead. 

“Gwaine, I need a favor,” Merlin said. “A huge favor.”

“Anything you need,” Gwaine promised. 

“The next time that guy comes in would you be willing to take a picture?” 

Gwaine’s brow furrowed in confusion, but he said, “Sure. I’d assume you’d like it sent to you?”

“Yes.” 

Gwaine gave him a long, searching look. “You sure you don’t want to tell me what this is about?” 

“It’s...complicated,” Merlin said. His smile was apologetic. 

“That’s alright,” Gwaine said, waving it off. “I trust you to have your reasons.” 

“Thanks.” He had to fight down the urge to blurt the whole story out to Gwaine then and there. “Well, I’ve gotta get going. Got some things to do.”

“Don’t let me keep you from your secret agent business,” Gwaine said. 

Outside the pub Merlin pulled his mobile out and called Freya. She almost didn’t pick up.

“I’m at work,” she said.

“I think I have a lead,” Merlin told her. “A solid lead. When can we talk?”

There was a thoughtful silence on the other end of the line. “How soon can you get up to the lodge?”

Merlin checked the time. “I’ll head up there right now. I thought you just said you were working. This can wait until the evening.”

“I was, but they’ll be fine without me,” Freya insisted. “This is more important.”

“If you’re sure. I’m on my way.” 

“I’ll be waiting.”

Merlin hightailed it over to Morgana and Gwen’s cabin. He remembered them talking about using their mutual day off to go on a date in the resort village. If they hadn’t left yet he could hitch a ride up with them. Merlin skidded to a halt in their driveway where Gwen and Morgana were just getting into the car. 

“Merlin,” Morgana said. “To what do we owe the pleasure?” Merlin held a finger up, asking for a minute while he caught his breath. 

“Can I catch a ride up to the lodge with you guys?” he asked, straightening. 

“Sure, hop in,” Gwen said. “What’re you gonna do up there?”

Merlin shrugged and almost started praying when he noticed Morgana taking the driver’s seat. “Just some things,” he answered, distracted. But to his surprise, Morgana’s driving wasn’t the same terrifying experience as before. He noted the bags under her eyes again. “Are you alright Morgana?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she shot back, a little clipped. 

“No reason,” Merlin said quickly. He didn’t push the subject. Something was up, that much he knew, but Morgana hid it well. They dropped him at the front of the resort car park and Merlin pushed Morgana’s troubles to the back of his mind. He already had a million other things to worry about. If Morgana wanted to tell him what was going on that was another story, but until then he’d leave it be. 

As promised, Freya was waiting for him in the lodge at a table removed from the late lunch goers. 

“You’re sure this is okay?” Merlin asked, though it didn’t really matter since they were already there. 

“This is my primary job,” Freya reminded him. “So, tell me what’s going on.”

Merlin explained his conversation with Gwaine about the strange men visiting his pub and the promise that next time the guy came in Gwaine would snap a picture and send it to Merlin.

“We’ll finally be able to put a face to one of them,” Merlin finished.

“Finally!” Freya said. “Can you get it run through a facial recognition program? Because that would be even better.”

“I’m gonna try. I’m sure we have a contact somewhere with access to that.” A flash of blond caught his eye and Merlin turned without thinking. His stomach did a little flip when he saw Arthur. It twisted itself up in knots when he noticed Sophia sucking up to him. She was making the most of her tits, practically shoving them in Arthur’s face. Merlin got vindictive satisfaction out of the fact that Arthur looked perturbed at the close proximity of her chest.

“Who’re they?” 

Freya’s voice jerked his attention back to her. “What? Oh, that’s Arthur, the guy I’m staying with.”

Freya was studying the scene with a concerned frown. “And the woman?”

“Sophia. I get the sense she’s husband hunting.”

“She’s unsettling,” Freya commented. Merlin glanced back over. He wondered why Arthur wasn’t walking away yet. Hadn’t he said he found her annoying? Although he’d also said he found her attractive.

“She’s definitely annoying,” Merlin said. And when he thought about it… “And a bit unsettling, yeah.”

“Hm.” Freya’s concern hadn’t abated. “Anyway,” she said, finally looking away, “let me know when you’ve got the picture. I’m gonna get back to work.”

Merlin probably should have just left as well, but he didn’t. From the table he watched Arthur and Sophia. He wasn’t sure he’d quite call what they were doing flirting, at least not on Arthur’s part, but it looked like something approximating that. His mind drifted to Freya’s reaction. What about the situation had concerned her? He puzzled over it as he watched, only breaking from his thoughts when he registered that Arthur had turned away from Sophia and was walking over to him. 

“Well, well, well, _Mer_ lin,” Arthur began, leaning over him. “Spying on me, are you?”

“No! I was meeting a friend here.”

Arthur made a show of looking around. “I don’t see anyone.”

“She left,” Merlin said, scowling.

“And you just thought you’d stick around and stare at me?”

“I’m just trying to make sure you don’t bring her back to the cabin.”

Arthur didn’t even glance in Sophia’s direction as he shrugged. “She’s not really my type.”

“Good,” Merlin said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get going.” He fled the lodge before Arthur could say anything more. The entire journey back to the cabin he deliberately thought as little as possible about Arthur and Sophia, instead directing his thoughts to more pressing tasks, like the Skype session he had to get set up and the possibility of finally making headway on finding the poachers.

  
____________________  


This was perhaps not the smartest decision he had ever made, Merlin reflected as Aithusa squirmed in his pack. Bringing a dragon into a highly populated area that likely involved whoever had been hunting dragons in the past year just screamed stupid. But you couldn’t get internet way out in the dragon den. Merlin couldn’t even get a signal on his phone, not one measly bar. So if he really wanted Kilgharrah’s advice on the dragonling he’d just hatched the best option was to bring Aithusa back to the cabin for a Skype session. Things would be going a lot better if she would just settle down for a bit.

“I know being cooped up in there sucks,” Merlin murmured to his bag, “but you really need to calm down. Less than an hour and I’ll let you out, okay?” Aithusa whined and Merlin had to hush her quickly as a group of snowboarders trooped past. Finally, the bus pulled into view and Merlin hopped on. Normally he’d wait for Arthur. Prat though the man was, he’d been great about helping Merlin get to and from the resort. Things got a great deal more complicated though when you were hiding a newly hatched baby dragon in your bag.

It was a shame to miss out on an afternoon of skiing, but it was the only way to ensure he had the cabin to himself for long enough. Merlin whispered a spell to detect the presence of others under his breath anyway as he entered the cabin. You could never be too careful when bringing a baby dragon to the cabin you share with someone who didn’t know magic still existed. Still, Merlin didn’t let Aithusa out until he’d closed and locked the door to his room. As he set his laptop up and sent a quick text to his dad, Aithusa shook herself out and hopped off the bed to go exploring. She sniffed curiously at the dirty clothes strewn about the floor, climbed briefly into Merlin’s suitcase, and sneezed sparks when she poked her head into a dusty corner.

“No setting the room on fire, please,” Merlin warned her. “I’m not entirely sure how to get rid of scorch marks with magic yet.” Her tiny claws made little rips in the bedding when she climbed back up and Merlin sighed. This was why his parents never allowed dragonlings in the house back on the reserve. Merlin grimaced as she scampered up his back so she could perch on his shoulder. Maybe he could figure out how to set up wifi in the den. Aithusa was leaning forward to sniff at the screen when his dad answered the call. She jerked back, nearly tumbling right off Merlin’s shoulder. When she’d righted herself she hissed.

“Oh shut up,” Merlin said. “That’s my dad. Hi dad.”

“Hello Merlin.” There was an amused tilt to his dad’s lips. “Enjoying yourself up there?”

“You owe me a massive vacation when this is over,” Merlin said.

“This is the sort of thing you’ll have to handle if you take over the reserve,” his dad reminded him.

“I’m not actually talking about the dragons,” Merlin corrected. “I can handle dragons. What I can’t handle is my fit roommate because every time he opens his mouth it’s to insult me. It is, hands down, one of the most unfortunate things to ever happen to me.” And Merlin was including that time he’d been bitten by a poisonous dragon the size of his hand when he was eleven and nearly died from the venom.

“That’s just as well. You’re not there to look for a boyfriend.” It was said with all the sternness of a father who was in denial that his child would ever date someone. “How are things going?”

“Good, all things considered. I’ve been adding some additional protection to the den.” Merlin scrubbed a hand over his face. “Freya and I have mostly hit dead ends so far, but I might have something soon.”

“We still haven’t found anything more on the aliases,” his dad said. “Is the den still safe?”

“For now. Who knows how long that’ll last thought.” Merlin paused. “Got Kilgharrah there?”

“He’s here, yes.” His dad turned the screen and tilted it and Merlin found himself staring into the amused face of Kilgharrah.

“Hello, young warlock,” the dragon greeted.

“Hi.”

“I understand you have a dragonling you wish to discuss with me.”

“Yeah.” Merlin hauled Aithusa off his shoulder, wincing when she protested by digging her claws into his skin. As if he needed more scars from dragon claws. They weren’t exactly the easiest thing to explain to bedmates. He held Aithusa right up to the camera, which she leaned forward and sniffed so that all his dad and Kilgharrah could see for the next few seconds was her nostrils.

“What is concerning you, young warlock?” Kilgharrah asked.

“It’s not concern so much as confused,” Merlin said. “Aithusa is...different.”

Kilgharrah tilted his head. “Different in what way?”

“Well for one she’s white,” Merlin pointed out.

“A rare color indeed,” Kilgharrah agreed.

“Other than that…” Merlin sighed. “I’m not even sure how to explain it. I found her egg in the cave and it was different than any of the eggs I’ve seen at the reserve or in other dens.

“Hm…” Kilgharrah spent several long minutes observing Aithusa, who was squirming in Merlin’s grasp. She stilled when she noticed Kilgharrah’s gaze and stared back at him. Merlin exchanged a look with his dad, who shrugged. “Strange indeed,” Kilgharrah said. “I’ve not seen a youngling like this in over a thousand years. In fact, I’d thought there were no more.”

“No more what?” Merlin questioned.

“No more dragons like me,” Kilgharrah clarified, for once being straightforward. Dragons like Kilgharrah. So he was right. Aithusa wasn’t like the seven other dragons in the cave. Merlin wondered how long Aithusa’s egg had been on Mount Albion, tucked away in a little cave, waiting for the day when it was time to crawl out of her shell. It was strange to think of this little creature, who couldn’t yet hunt for herself or even fly, as ancient, but that’s what she was. A relic of a past long forgotten to all but a few.

“So...exactly what does that mean?” Merlin asked when the silence had stretched long enough. He loosened his grip enough for Aithusa to wriggle out and crawl along his arm to perch on his shoulder again. She seemed to be quite fond of that spot.

“It’s hard to say,” Kilgharrah said. “But one thing is clear. The white dragon bodes well for Albion.”

“I- okay?”

Apparently back to his usual cryptic self, Kilgharrah turned away. Merlin watched him lumber back off towards his cave.

“That was interesting,” His dad commented.

“You mean confusing,” Merlin said. “Knowing Aithusa is from an ancient dragon race that died out over a thousand years ago doesn’t help me figure out what to do with her now. And what was that about Albion?”

“You know how to take care of a dragonling,” His dad said. “I imagine Aithusa isn’t all that different. Just keep a log of her progress and contact me if you have any questions.”

“Yeah, okay.” There wasn’t really anything else he could do.

“Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“No, everything else is under control.”

“But you’ll call me if-”

“Yes, dad.” Merlin rolled his eyes, exasperated. “I’ll call you if I need any help. Love you, bye.”

“Goodbye.”

Merlin shut his laptop with a sigh. Aithusa bumped her head against his cheek and he reached up absently to scratch his finger over the top of her little head. “Now to just make sure you don’t cause me any trouble until I can get you back to the others tomorrow,” he muttered. “Think if I leave you in here you can keep yourself entertained without destroying my room?” Aithusa’s response was to sneeze sparks all over the desk. Merlin sighed again. He would find a way to get wifi out in remote dragon dens if it killed him. In the meantime, he was starving.

Arthur was in the kitchen. “I was going to ask you if you wanted any fish,” Arthur said. “I realized after I’d already put it in the oven that I probably wasn’t going to eat all of it.” This wasn’t the first time this had happened. Merlin had yet to figure out whether it was Arthur being genuinely nice or offering because he’d been taught that was what you did when you happened to make too much fish.

“Um, sure.”

“It’ll be done soon.”

“Okay.” Merlin took a seat at the kitchen table and wasted a few minutes wondering if he should find Aithusa something to snack on or if she’d be fine until he took her back to the den tomorrow. She’d probably be fine. Then again, if she did get hungry she might start chewing on his things. It had happened enough times on the reserve. Yeah, he’d pick her up a snack at the store or something. When he looked back over towards the oven Arthur was watching him.

“What?” Merlin said, perhaps a little too defensively.

“Nothing.”

“Actually,” Merlin said after a moment, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something. You clearly don’t think much of magic. Why?”

Arthur shrugged. “It’s dangerous, isn’t it?”

“So are knives, but you don’t see anyone afraid to have one in their kitchen.”

“Why does it even matter?” Arthur grumbled. “There’s no more magic in the world anyway.”

Merlin just barely refrained from asking Arthur how stupid he really was. “What about all the species that aren’t around anymore? Like dragons?”

“I’ve always thought it’s a good thing dragons went extinct,” Arthur said.

“An entire species going extinct is a good thing?” Merlin asked incredulously. Arthur frowned at him.

“Didn’t you see the documentary that came out? Ten years ago I think it was? Dragons were deadly creatures. We’re much better off without them.”

“Tigers are dangerous creatures,” Merlin pointed out. “Lions, bears, wolves, countless other creatures. Why are they more deserving of protection than dragons?”

“Because dragons-“ Arthur cut himself off.

“Because dragons what?” Merlin urged.

“Dragons are creatures of magic,” Arthur finished. “They aren’t natural.”

“There is nothing in the world more natural than magic,” Merlin exclaimed. He bit his tongue against the rest of his tirade though when Arthur gave him a look that clearly said he was questioning Merlin’s intelligence again. “You know what, forget I even brought it up. I’m going for a walk.”

“Do you still want fish?”

“Just leave some in the fridge or something!”

  
____________________  


Merlin ended up running into Gwen and Morgana on his walk. Gwen was her usual cheerful self, but there was a strained edge to it that day. Even more noticeable were the bags under Morgana’s eyes. She stared at Merlin for a long moment when she noticed him, as if she’d never actually looked at him before and were just now seeing him for the first time.

“Hi Merlin!” Gwen gave him an enthusiastic hug.

“Hey,” he said. Morgana just continued to look at him. Then she abruptly turned around and left. It was one of the strangest things Merlin had seen. He waited until Morgana was out of earshot. “Is she okay?”

Gwen bit her lip, absently looking the direction Morgana had gone. “She…doesn’t sleep well,” Gwen admitted. “She has these dreams that keep her awake.”

“Dreams?” Merlin repeated. He’d sensed something in Morgana when they met, like a latent potential, but with the dragons at the top of his priority list he hadn’t given it much thought. Now Merlin wondered… “Do you know what they’re about?” His brain caught up with him after a moment. “Not that you have to tell me,” he hastened to add. “I mean if it’s personal you probably shouldn’t tell me, but my uncle’s a doctor and I grew up around him so I might know of something…” Technically Gaius was a doctor. Just not a people doctor. But Gwen didn’t need to know that.

“I doubt it,” Gwen said, her smile sad. “Morgana’s taken prescription pills, herbal remedies, done special meditation, burned incense. None of it works. The nightmares keep coming.” Merlin wasn’t entirely sure how to ask the next question.

“Is there…” He grimaced and ran a hand through his hair before just forging ahead. “Is there anything else? Other than the nightmares? Anything strange that happens around Morgana? Maybe when she’s upset or…” Merlin trailed off. Gwen furrowed her brow.

“I’ve never noticed anything,” she said slowly. “What exactly do you mean by strange?”

“I- ...It’s nothing,” Merlin said quickly, shaking his head. “Forget it.”

“I should go catch up to her,” Gwen said. “See you tomorrow Merlin.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Morgana’s odd behavior drove Arthur and their earlier disagreement far from his mind. He spent the rest of the evening puzzling over it. Merlin wondered if Morgana’s dreams had anything to do with magic. 

Right before he went to bed his phone buzzed with an incoming message. It was from Gwaine. Contained in it was a photo of a man sitting alone in a corner of the pub, nursing a pint. _That’s him_ , Gwaine had typed. Merlin sent him a thank you text. He’d get the picture to his dad in the morning.

  
____________________  


It didn’t take long to get the information on the mysterious man from The Rising Sun, along with a better picture of him. Robert Nollar was a man of intimidating physique and in possession of a sizeable rap sheet, on which were sighted various instances of illegal poaching of magical creatures. Merlin spent a solid five minutes just staring at the information, giddy that they finally had something solid to go on. He even had a plan in mind, he just had to inform Freya.

"Have you ever put a magical tracker on someone?" Merlin asked. 

"A few times, yeah." Realization dawned on Freya. "You want to tag this guy with one."

Merlin nodded. "He'll lead us straight to the others. And then, when we've got more of them tagged with trackers, I'll be able to track their movements on the mountain."

"Useful," Freya agreed. "But actually getting a magical tracker on someone is tricky."

"If you've got a better suggestion I'm open to it."

A grimace flitted across Freya's face. "No, you're right," she admitted. "This is our best option so far. Magic has been around since the dawn of man, why hasn't anyone created a tracking spell that doesn't require you to physically touch the person?"

"There's one you can put on objects," Merlin pointed out.

"And then you pray they actually take that object with them when they go places."

Merlin shrugged. "Must be some kind of limitation."

"It's a stupid limitation."

They stayed for a bit longer to go over the finer points of their new plan. It was risky, on account of the spell's need for physical touch. It meant getting right up close to people who would probably be quite happy to shoot them if they realized what was going on. But after a few weeks of no progress this was their best shot. To Merlin, the risk was worth it.

  
____________________  


Gwaine texted him the next time he saw Robert Nollar at his pub. Merlin immediately set aside the book he’d been reading and headed out. As he walked he felt a flutter of nerves in his stomach. He really hoped he wasn’t about to do something monumentally stupid. At the pub he tried to play it casual and ended up nearly knocking the pint Gwaine gave him off the bar.

“I was all convinced you’re some kind of secret agent, but now I’m not so sure,” Gwaine said, wiping up the drops of beer that had spilled. 

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Merlin muttered. 

“Anytime.”

It was an agonizing hour before Nollar got up to leave. Merlin shoved apprehension to the back of his mind and put his plan into action. Pint in hand, he left the bar, trying not to make it look like he was making a beeline for his target. His plan was to ‘accidentally’ stumble into Nollar, spill some beer all over him, apologize, and get the hell out of there without looking too suspicious. As it turned out, faking a stumble was unnecessary. Merlin’s shin collided with a chair, sending him careening into the man, the entirety of his drink emptying onto him. 

“Sorry!” Merlin exclaimed. “So sorry!” He wiped at the mess with his hands, planting the magical tracker. “Sorry!”

“Just, get out of my way,” Nollar snapped. He shoved Merlin off and left.

“That was some supreme acting,” Gwaine said when he got back to the bar. 

“I- yeah, acting.” Merlin kind of wished a hole would open up in the ground and swallow him, but it seemed unlikely. 

Thankfully, Gwaine was already changing the subject. “Do you realize it’s almost Christmas?” 

Merlin hadn’t. “Wow. Almost Christmas. It feels like I’ve barely been here at all.”

“Oh how times flies when you’re having fun.”

“Yeah, fun.” That was exactly what this had been so far.

  
___________________  


Because employees of the resort couldn’t really go home for Christmas unless they lived in the town, the resort threw an employee Christmas Eve party every year. Merlin thought it was nice. Spend the day skiing and then get free cake and booze? There could hardly be a better way to spend Christmas Eve, even if he did kind of miss his mum’s cooking and decorating the tree with his dad. Merlin and Arthur drove up with Morgana and Gwen because Gwen had decided that she was the designated driver for when the rest of them inevitably got drunk. Morgana made her promise to take pictures of anything stupid or ridiculous that Merlin and/or Arthur did at any time during the party.

Merlin had seen the lodge earlier that day when he’d taken a break for lunch and hot chocolate, but it seemed to have completely transformed now that they’d turned the main lights off and allowed the room to be lit by the fairy lights strung everywhere.

He lost Morgana and Gwen almost immediately when they ran off to dance to whatever the DJ was blaring through the speakers and Arthur meandered off a moment later. Merlin stood for a moment on the edge of the room, lost as to what he should do, when a familiar figure approached him. Merlin smiled.

"Gwaine!"

"Merlin!"

He found himself tugged into a hug. "What are you doing here?" Merlin asked.

"I provide alcohol for the party," Gwaine answered. "Come on, let me get you a drink."

"I really don't need to be drunk yet," Merlin protested. "You know what a light weight I am."

"Trust me, this thing is no fun without a shot or two in your system." Gwaine dragged him over to the bar set up along the far wall. He didn't ask what Merlin wanted and instead poured him a shot from a bottle Merlin didn't get a good look at before it disappeared again. "Drink up!" Gwaine encouraged and Merlin figured he may as well. He poured the shot down his throat and coughed.

"Shit, that burns."

"No pain, no gain."

"I don't think that really applies to this situation."

"It applies to every situation.”

Merlin refused the next shot. "Maybe later," he deflected when Gwaine insisted. At some point Morgana and Gwen showed up. Merlin got the sense that Gwen's sole duty by the end of the night would be trailing after Morgana to make sure she didn't stir up trouble. It was as he was leaning casually against the bar, sipping something sweet and fruity that Gwaine had thrust into his hand a few minutes ago, that he spotted Arthur. He was dancing and Merlin was all set to appreciate the image when he saw that Arthur wasn't dancing alone. He was dancing with Sophia. There was nothing wrong with Sophia, per say. Except that she was a spoiled, snooty brat whose daddy bought her anything she wanted with his mountains of cash. She could often be found hanging around the base lodge trying to hook up with someone. Merlin had rather thought she wasn't Arthur's type, based on how uninterested he’d been when she shoved her tits in his face. Apparently he'd been wrong. His hand tightened around the glass until Merlin forced himself to relax. What did he care. So Arthur was attractive. He was also a massively spoiled prat. He and Sophia were probably perfect for each other. Still, that didn't mean Merlin had to sit there and watch it. Setting his drink on the bar, he wandered off in search of a quiet little area to get his mind off Arthur.

Gwaine came and found him a good hour after he'd gone off to think (not sulk, Merlin was most definitely not sulking and certainly not over Arthur Pendragon).

"Not enjoying yourself?" Gwaine probed.

Merlin sighed. "It's stupid," he said. Gwaine looked at him expectantly, but Merlin really didn't feel like explaining the truly pathetic fact that he had a crush on Arthur, despite the man's horrid personality. After a moment Gwaine nodded and shrugged, leaving it. That's what Merlin liked about him, Gwaine always knew when to leave well enough alone. Of course, he probably had a plan to get Merlin extremely drunk later and interrogate him, but that was for later. For now, he just stood beside Merlin in companionable silence.

"You know," Gwaine said after a time, "we're standing right under some mistletoe." Merlin's head jerked up and sure enough there was a sprig of the devilish stuff, hanging innocently from the ceiling. Then he looked at Gwaine. "We don't have to, if you don't want," Gwaine said quickly. Merlin thought about it. It was just a kiss. And despite his raging attraction to Arthur there wasn't actually anything between them. And Gwaine was very easy on the eyes. He was also nice, a lot nicer than Arthur. He didn't make fun of Merlin's ears or call him an idiot. And it was just a kiss.

"Why not," Merlin said. Gwaine's grin was a touch nervous. They stood there for a moment, just staring at each other, and then Merlin decided this was getting them absolutely nowhere and leaned in to press his lips lightly against Gwaine's. At first nothing happened. Then Gwaine pressed back and Merlin decided they may as well go all with way with this kiss and parted his lips for Gwaine's tongue. It was a great kiss. Gwaine was a great kisser. All things considered, he'd probably had a lot of practice. Merlin felt he would be perfectly content if the kiss never ended, but eventually they broke apart for air. Gwaine searched his face for something Merlin couldn't determine. He must not have found it because he sighed to himself, smiled a little sadly at Merlin, and went back to man the bar. Merlin turned to watch him leave and found his eyes drawn instead to a flash of blond hair. He zeroed in on it just in time to see Arthur turn away, scowling. Merlin frowned. What did Arthur care if Merlin kissed Gwaine? It's not like it meant anything anyway.

  
____________________  


Merlin was extremely grateful for turning down Gwaine’s attempts to cajole him into getting epically smashed the previous night when he showed up for work and was handed a gaggle of kids for the morning. He could see a few of the others hadn’t had that kind of foresight and were paying for it now. By lunch he was still tired though, slumping in his seat in the cafeteria. And it had absolutely nothing to do with staying up all night thinking about Arthur dancing with Sophia. Absolutely _nothing_.

“So,” Morgana began, sliding into the seat across from Merlin. “You kissed Gwaine last night.”

“I don’t even wonder how you find this stuff out anymore,” Merlin said sourly. “And so what?”

“What do you think of Gwaine?”

Merlin set his fork down slowly, eyeing Morgana. “He’s...nice.”

“And attractive,” Morgana pointed out.

“That too. Why does it matter?”

“I just thought maybe the two of you had hooked up,” she said.

“What?” Merlin gaped. “No, why would you think that?”

“So you wouldn’t go out with Gwaine?”

“Christ, Morgana, he’s a great guy, but I don’t think of him like that. Why are you even asking?” It really wasn’t any of her business.

Morgana gave him a long critical once over. “You really are that oblivious, aren’t you?”

“Oblivious-” But now Merlin was remember that strange, searching look Gwaine had given him before he’d walked off and- oh. “Oh.”

“Yes, oh, Merlin.” Morgana shook her head.

“But he flirts with everyone!” Merlin protested. “How am I supposed to tell?”

“His flirting was different with you.”

“Different how? How can you tell?”

“It wasn't meaningless flirting, it was serious flirting. I’d think the difference would be obvious.”

Merlin threw his hands up. “Maybe to you!” He sighed. “I don’t think it would work out anyway.”

“Because you’re too hung up on my brother.”

“Can you go away right now? I’m trying to enjoy my lunch, thank you very much.”

“Fine, fine.” Morgana got up. “But I just want to make sure, you’re coming over for our Christmas party, right?”

“Christmas party?”

“Yes. Gwen, Arthur, and I always have a little party the evening of the 25th to exchange presents and all that and since we like you you’re invited.”

“I- yeah, I’ll come. But I don’t have any presents…”

“That’s fine, darling, we’ll welcome your company anyway.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. I’ll see you tonight then.” She gave him an odd, searching look before she left. Merlin suppressed the urge to cross his arms protectively over his chest, feeling somehow exposed by that look, as if Morgana knew all his secrets.

  
____________________  


Merlin would have much preferred to spend the rest of the winter avoiding Gwaine, but as he approached the bar that afternoon he reminded himself that Hunith and Balinor Emrys hadn’t raised their son to be a coward. Not against dragons and certainly not after kissing his mate who apparently thought of him as more than a mate. Gwaine was playing a round of pool with some of his regulars when Merlin showed up. The minute he spotted him, the bar owner excused himself from the game.

“Merlin! How are you today?” There was no sign that last night under the mistletoe had actually happened and Merlin was tempted to just let it be. But that wasn’t right. Gwaine was nice. Merlin didn’t want this to ruin any chance of a friendship between them.

“Can we talk somewhere?” Merlin asked.

“Sure.” Gwaine led him through a door behind the bar, back to the kitchen. “What do you want to talk about.”

“Last night,” Merlin blurted before he could lose his nerve. “I just- I wanted to apologize. I had no idea you-“ He made a few helpless gestures with his hands, but Gwaine was smiling, gentle and understanding and maybe a bit sad.

“It’s alright Merlin,” he said. “I knew I probably didn’t have a chance, but I wanted to try anyway.”

“So there’s- you’re not- there’s no hard feelings?”

Now Gwaine laughed. “Of course not! And if you don’t mind I’d still like to be friends with you.”

“Of course! Yeah, I want that.” Merlin smiled, relieved. “I am sorry though.”

“Forget about it.”

“Still-“

“If you don’t stop apologizing I’ll stop giving you free shots.”

“You know,” Merlin said thoughtfully, “that can only be a good thing.” Gwaine punched him in the arm. There, that hadn’t been so bad. 

Merlin spent all afternoon thinking about what his mother would do to him if she ever found out he showed up to a party empty handed. Especially a Christmas party. So he bought a cake. Actually, what he’d done was call Freya up in a panic and she had suggested the cake.

“Percival makes the best cakes,” she’d said. “Nobody will even remember you didn’t buy any presents.” Merlin wasn’t so sure about that, considering the crowd consisted of Arthur, who apparently still hadn’t forgotten how Merlin had accidentally spilled beer all over his shirt when they met at orientation, but anything was better than showing up empty handed.

“Are you sure he won’t mind?” Merlin had asked. “I’d hate to make him work on Christmas.”

“He spends all day baking anyway,” Freya had assured him. “He’ll hardly even notice if I ask him to make an extra cake.” She’d also told him he didn’t actually have to pay for the cake, but Merlin felt he owed some kind of compensation, so he shoved the bills into Freya’s hands before making a quick exit.

And so Merlin showed up on the doorstep of Morgana and Gwen’s cabin, no longer feeling completely terrible for not getting anyone gifts.

“Really, you didn’t have to bring anything,” Gwen said when she answered the door.

“I figured if I didn’t have time to scrounge together some presents the least I could do was bring something to eat,” Merlin insisted. Gwen gestured for him to go on back to the living room while she whisked the cake off to the kitchen.

Morgana and Gwen’s cabin was a lot bigger than Arthur’s. A staircase with garlands wrapped around the railing led up to a second floor. The living room was amazing. High ceiling with huge windows running along the far wall, a modern fireplace with stockings hanging from it, comfy couches. There was a little tree on the coffee table with tinsel wound round it’s branches and brightly colored baubles reflecting in the firelight. Presents had been placed around it, like you would with a real tree.

“Merlin! You made it!” Morgana bounced off the couch and pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

“I’m sure he’d appreciate it you stopped strangling him,” Arthur drawled. He was sprawled in a lounger, sipping at a can of soda.

“I brought a cake,” Merlin said. “Gwen took it into the kitchen.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” Morgana cooed. She skipped off to investigate. Merlin raised a questioning eyebrow at Arthur. He’d never seen Morgana so…excited. She was usually so much more refined.

“Christmas has always been Morgana’s favorite holiday,” Arthur said. It was a bit of a non explanation, but Merlin supposed he should be used to that from Arthur by now.

Instead of inquiring further he commented, “Big cabin. Definitely room for more than two people.”

“It was originally for all of us to share,” Arthur said. “I wanted my own space when she and Gwen hooked up though, understandably.”

“We didn’t even sleep on the same floor as you,” Morgana said, coming back into the living room.

“I didn’t want to take my chances.”

“We can open presents now,” Gwen jumped in before Morgana and Arthur could get going. She seemed to have perfected the art of smoothly redirecting arguments between the Pendragon siblings. Merlin hoped he would never find himself in a situation where that skill became a necessity.

Morgana appointed herself the official Person In Charge Of Passing Out Presents. She started with the stockings, one of which belonged to Merlin, much to his surprise. Then she moved onto the presents, of which there were also ones that belonged to Merlin. He stared down at the three gifts in front of him with dismay.

“You guys are just trying to make me feel as bad as possible for not getting you anything,” he accused.

“Well-“ Arthur was stopped by Gwen’s foot making painful contact with his stomach.

“For the last time, Merlin, it’s fine,” Morgana said.

“Besides, you brought us a cake,” Gwen pointed out.

Stockings went first. They each contained candy and a $50 gift card. Merlin gaped.

“It takes some getting used to,” Gwen said when she noticed. “Arthur and Morgana always like to go a bit overboard with their presents, since they have the money for it.”

“No kidding,” Merlin said. His family wasn’t poor by any means, but it certainly felt like it next to all this. Merlin was almost afraid to open his presents. Instead, he sat back for a moment and watched his friends tear into theirs.

“Ha ha,” Morgana said sarcastically, holding up a mug. It was a custom design. The picture on the side was no doubt the most unflattering one Arthur could find (because no way would Gwen give her girlfriend that and Arthur was smirking) done in the fashion of a prison mug shot. There were also a few coasters with purposely wrong lyrics printed on them.

Arthur smirked right up until he opened the present Morgana had gotten for him. It was a bottle of wine. With a twist. A frown took over Arthur’s face as he examined the wooden contraption surrounding it.

“It’s a puzzle,” Morgana said smugly. “You can’t open the wine until you figure it out.”

“How thoughtful of you,” Arthur said dryly.

“There’s one other thing in the bag.”

Arthur pulled out a book entitled _Instant Happy: 10-Second Attitude Makeover_. Merlin snorted, amused.

“Shut up Merlin,” Arthur muttered.

Morgana’s present from Gwen was a necklace with two pendants hanging from it, both circles. The first circle was larger and had ‘you’re my person’ engraved along the edge around an infinity sign. The smaller one had their initials. As soon as Gwen had clasped it around her neck Morgana yanked her in for a kiss.

“This is exactly what I wanted to avoid witnessing by moving out,” Arthur grumbled. Morgana made a rude gesture in his direction.

Her present to Gwen was also a necklace.

“An Aquitaine Celtic Pewter Sundial,” Morgana reeled off.

“It’s gorgeous!” Gwen exclaimed.

Morgana sounded smug when she said, “Knew you’d love it.”

Arthur’s present from Gwen was a pair of red cashmere slippers that he immediately slipped onto his feet. In return, he’d gotten her a wine and spa gift set.

“You haven’t opened any of your present,” Gwen observed of Merlin.

“Come on, Merlin,” Morgana encouraged. “Open them!”

“Alright, alright!” Merlin picked one up. The tag said it was from Morgana. He ripped off the paper and lifted up a pair of Sennheiser headphones. “Holy shit,” Merlin breathed. His tiny earbuds looked like trash next to these. He tried them on briefly, loving the feel of the white leatherette headband and the velour ear pads. How many times had be passed by expensive headphones in a store and thought about buying a pair?

“Everyone loves expensive headphones,” Morgana said.

“That’s just another way of saying you didn’t know what to get him so you went with something generic. My present is actually useful,” Arthur bragged.

“Alright then,” Morgana sniffed, insulted. “Go on. Open Arthur’s present next.”

Merlin knew better than to argue about it so he dutifully picked up Arthur’s present and tore the wrapping off. It was a leather tablet case, clearly high quality, with an attached kickstand. The price tag had it at over a $100. Merlin’s jaw dropped.

“You’re always carrying around your tablet,” Arthur said. “I was amazed you hadn’t ruined it yet so I thought I’d plan for the future and get you a case.” It was a talent really, the way Arthur could come off as kind and condescending at the same time. And it figured he would be the sort of person to leave price tags on presents. Show off. Gwen’s gift was Merlin’s favorite though.

“I noticed your backpack, the one you always keep in the locker room, was all beat up and falling apart,” Gwen said as he unwrapped the present. “I thought you could use a replacement. It would suck to have it break while you were using it and then have to carry all your things back yourself.” She’d gone with a dark blue North Face daypack. Merlin unzipped it and was pleased to see a partition for a laptop or tablet.

“This is seriously amazing Gwen,” Merlin said, a grin stretched across his face. He noticed something white at the bottom of the main pocket. Curious, he pulled it out and held up a t-shirt that read ‘There’s a Special Place in Heaven for Veterinarians’. Merlin laughed.

“Thought you’d like that,” Gwen said, pleased that her gift was clearly the best.

“Seriously, thank you so much guys,” Merlin said. “Now I feel really bad that I didn’t get you anything.”

“It’s fine,” Gwen assured him. “We should have told you about it sooner.”

“I still feel bad,” Merlin insisted.

“Don’t worry about it,” Arthur said. “You probably couldn’t have afforded anything decent anyway.”

“Arthur!” Morgana threw a wad of wrapping paper at him. “You can’t just say things like that!”

“Forget it, Morgana,” Merlin said. “I’m used to it anyway.”

“See? Merlin doesn’t mind.”

Morgana rolled her eyes. “You are such a child.”

“Okay!” Gwen said, clapping her hands and hopping to her feet. “Enough of that! It’s Christmas guys. Goodwill and all that. I’m going to get the cake and when I come back I expect there to be nothing but Christmas cheer in this room, understand? Come help me Merlin.” Morgana threw one more wad of wrapping paper at her brother. Merlin smiled and got up to follow Gwen.

“So my present was the best right?” Gwen said when they were out of earshot of the siblings.

“Oh hands down,” Merlin said. “My mate back home has been nagging me to get a new daypack for ages, but I keep forgetting about it.”

“Until you’re out in the middle of the woods or something and praying it doesn’t break until you get back.”

“Exactly.”

Merlin watched Gwen carefully cut the cake into perfect pieces.

“There are plates in that cupboard right behind you,” she said, gesturing vaguely over her shoulder. Merlin retrieved four and then rummaged his way through the drawers until he found forks. Armed with them, he followed Gwen back to the living room where, surprisingly, Morgana and Arthur were behaving themselves. Maybe there was something to that whole Christmas spirit thing.

The resounding opinion was that Percy’s cake was amazing.

“He owns the bakery next to the café,” Merlin told them. “Everything he makes is pretty much the best thing I’ve ever had.”

“God, we should’ve thought to get friendly with the Ski Patrol people ages ago,” Morgana said.

“I should’ve grabbed something to drink though,” Gwen said.

“If Arthur figures out how to open his wine we could have it with the cake,” Morgana pointed out. Arthur eyed the wooden contraption on the wine bottle.

“I’m sure I could get it, but then I’d have to share it with you,” he said. Morgana rolled her eyes while Merlin and Gwen shared a look.

“I’ll go see what we have in the kitchen,” Gwen said. Merlin just sat back and smiled, content. Despite the squabbling and the petty insults he was enjoying himself. It wasn’t Christmas with his friends and family, but all the same it was...nice. It was nice.

  
____________________  


It figured that the fun, festive atmosphere wouldn’t last forever. Morgana and Gwen kicked the boys out when they decided it was time for bed. Merlin didn’t mind. He was still riding the buzz from the wine Gwen had uprooted in the kitchen. The night air was frigid and he huddled down into his coat. Beside him Arthur had tucked his chin down into the collar of his parka and was looking thoughtful.

“What’re you thinking about?” Merlin asked. He stumbled in the snow and nearly crashed into Arthur’s side. “Sorry.” 

“It’s fine,” Arthur said softly. He barely glanced at Merlin before looking back down at the snow. “Did you...did you have fun tonight?”

Merlin smiled. “Yeah. You guys aren’t so bad.” 

Arthur scoffed, but didn’t say anything further. That same thoughtful expression stayed on his face all the way to the cabin. Merlin was more than ready to crash on his bed. However he’d barely taken a few steps towards the hallway when Arthur’s hand darted out to snatch his wrist. Merlin stared at him in surprise. A beat of silence passed. 

“Yes?” Merlin asked, when it seemed Arthur was just going to keep staring at him. 

“What do you think of Gwaine?” 

Well that was a non sequitur if Merlin had ever heard one. “What?”

“Do you like him?” 

“I don’t really see how that’s any of your business,” Merlin said, yanking his wrist free. 

“Don’t avoid the question,” Arthur demanded. 

“Gwaine’s a friend,” Merlin told him. “That’s it. Why do you care?”

“No reason,” Arthur said, a little too quickly. Merlin took a step closer, trying to read him. 

“Right,” he muttered, face expressing how much he believed that.

“Gwaine’s a flirt,” Arthur continued. “I just don’t want you getting hurt by him.”

Merlin took another step closer, right into Arthur’s space. “Again, why do you care?” Tension was thick in the air. Arthur’s eyes darted down and Merlin licked his lips self consciously. 

“I’m being a concerned friend,” Arthur claimed. 

“Really? Because it sounds to me like you’re-” A ringtone cut him off. The scene froze for a moment and if not for the still ringing mobile Merlin might have thought he’d frozen time with his magic. Arthur fished his mobile out of his pocket and looked at the screen. 

“It’s from Sophia,” he announced. Something turned sour in Merlin’s stomach and he backed away. 

“How’d she get your number?”

“I gave it to her.” 

Merlin stared at Arthur. “You don’t even like her.” 

“She has her charms,” Arthur said. 

“But you-” Merlin frowned. “You know what, forget it. I’m going to bed.”

Arthur laughed. “Are you jealous, _Mer_ lin?” he taunted. Merlin’s face heated with embarrassment. How had he forgotten in the span of one pleasant evening what an arse Arthur was? He should’ve known better. 

“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing Pendragon, but leave me out of it,” Merlin said. 

“Merlin-”

He stormed to his room and slammed the door shut. He didn’t care about Arthur. He didn’t care about Sophia. He didn’t _care_.

  
____________________  


The music was so loud that it vibrated through the floor and right up Merlin’s body. He could feel his chest rattling with every beat. It was weird. The living room was packed with writhing, sweating bodies Merlin had elected to avoid it in favor of leaning against the wall. Although that was probably more to do with the fact that he was starting to have trouble standing up straight. But he also just didn’t want to dance. Dancing was lame. Why had he even come to Morgana’s New Year’s party? A high pitched giggle from over by one of the couches somehow carried over the music and chatter right into Merlin’s ears and he couldn’t stop himself from looking over at the corner it came from, where Arthur was. Ah yes, that was it. Merlin had come to Morgana’s New Year’s party with the intention of getting spectacularly drunk and forgetting that he lived with quite possibly the most attractive arsehole on the entire planet. Part one of that plan was going brilliantly. Part two...not so well.

That wasn’t really Merlin’s fault though. It was kind of hard to forget about Arthur when he was just on the other side of the room, getting drunk and laughing too loudly and flirting with fucking Sophia, who had been doing everything in her power to shove her boobs into as many male faces as possible since she’d arrived, especially Arthur’s. But not Merlin. Which was fine by him. God, what did Arthur even see in her? Was it the blond hair? Or was it her boobs? Was Arthur only interested in boobs? But no, Merlin had seen Arthur checking out his arse before and Morgana had mentioned that friends with benefits thing with Gwaine one year and-

Why did he even care? Arthur may be the most attractive man Merlin had ever encountered, but that didn’t make him any less of a complete prat. Merlin groaned. Right at that moment Gwen came over to check on him and Merlin wondered how she always had such perfect timing.

“Gwen,” he whined, “this isn’t working!”

“What isn’t working?” she asked.

“I’m trying to get drunk and forget that Arthur exists!”

“I think you’re plenty drunk Merlin,” Gwen pointed out.

“No, that part’s going fine,” Merlin said, waving his arm in the air and nearly smacking Gwen in the face. “Oops, sorry. I’m talking about the forgetting Arthur exists part! How am I supposed to do that when he’s right over there?”

“You’ve got to fuck it out of your system,” Morgana said, appearing out of thin air at his other side because she was some kind of ninja. Merlin jumped halfway out of his skin and then squinted, half because he couldn’t see Morgana all that clearly and half because he wasn’t quite sure he’d heard her correctly.

“I’ve got to what?”

“Fuck it out of your system,” Morgana repeated. “As in, seduce Arthur and have sex with him.”

“Morgana!” Gwen hissed, sounding horrified. “That’s awful! Why would you say that?” Merlin agreed. He may be drunk, but that sounded like a terrible idea. He said as much and Morgana shrugged.

“You’re attracted to him and he’s attracted to you,” she pointed out.

“He is?”

Morgana snorted. “Of course he is. My point is, all this pining you guys are doing is starting to make me sick. If you don’t want to date him the least you can do is have sex with him and put the rest of us out of our misery. Now if you’ll excuse me, I came over here to drag Gwen away for some dancing.” And then she did just that, leaving Merlin with some of the most unhelpful advice he’d ever received. He gaped after her. No, Merlin decided, he most certainly would not be fucking anything out of his system anytime soon. That was one of the worst ideas he’d ever heard.

And Merlin might have continued to think so for the rest of the night, except that twenty minutes later Gwaine dragged him into a corner to do shots. They were quite a few shots in before Merlin decided he may as well ask Gwaine a very important question.

“What-what’s it look like?” he slurred. Gwaine, the bastard, still looked perfectly sober.

“What’s what look like?” the bar owner asked absently, downing another shot and pouring a...sixth? seventh? who knew- pouring shot number he-should-probably-stop-before-he-did-something-embarrassing-like-puke-all-over-himself for Merlin. His dad, a native Irishman, would probably be proud that he’d made it this far without passing out. His mum...Merlin preferred not to think about what his mum would do to him if she ever saw him like this. He and his dad had already decided that one trip they’d taken to visit relatives in Ireland probably shouldn’t ever be mentioned. Not that Merlin remembered much of what happened on that trip.

“Arthur,” Merlin clarified. “You know. His penis. I’ve been told you’ve seen it before.”

Gwaine snorted. “What, and you haven’t seen it yet? How can you have lived with the guy for a month and not seen it?”

“Because-Because not all of us are filthy perverts like you.”

“So you really haven’t seen it?” Gwaine persisted, because he was, as Merlin had just pointed out, a filthy pervert.

Merlin glanced away, shifty, before admitting, “...I have.”

Gwaine doubled over laughing.

“Only when it’s all floppy and uninteresting though,” Merlin continued, deciding to ignore Gwaine. That was usually the best way to go about handling him. Anyway, it had been Arthur’s fault for not knotting his towel tightly enough after his shower. Although, now that Merlin thought about it, it had been awfully convenient that the towel had just happened to fall off right as Merlin was coming out of his room. Maybe too convenient. “Come on, tell- tell me!” He was not whining. He _wasn’t_.

“So you know what to expect later?” Gwaine asked with a positively lecherous grin. Merlin shoved him, though with his drunken coordination he more ended up slipping and nearly banging his nose on Gwaine’s shoulder. “Alright, alright! It’s nothing special, really. Bit bigger than average, that’s all. I’ve definitely seen more impressive.”

Merlin eyed Gwaine. “You’re not fucking with me are you?”

“Me? Never! Though if you’re offering- oof!” Merlin cut him off with a surprisingly accurate elbow to the gut. Maybe Morgana was on to something. Distantly, Merlin was aware that he’d just gone careening into red flag territory, but Gwaine’s shots were making it really hard to care. Instead, he found himself staring across the room where Arthur was lounging on the couch, Sophia draped all over him. He looked comfortable, but bored. That made sense. Sophia was a boring twat. Now if Merlin were sitting in Arthur’s lap Arthur would still be comfortable, but he would be a lot less bored.

It made sense in Merlin’s head.

Gwaine offered him another shot, but Merlin waved it off. He had some seducing to do. Or maybe just straight up propositioning would have to suffice. Merlin didn’t think he was sober enough to attempt seduction. He wobbled to his feet, using Gwaine as a support, and staggered his way through the throngs of people to the couch.

“You and I should fuck,” he declared.

Sophia looked utterly horrified. “No fucking way!” she snapped.

“Not you,” Merlin clarified. He pointed at Arthur, who was looking a little too sober for Merlin’s liking but he would work with what he had. “Him. The blond with the slightly bigger than average dick in his pants.” Arthur’s eyebrows rose straight to his hairline and Merlin went over his words in his head again. Oh. Whatever. It was a compliment. Maybe. Kind of.

“Why should we fuck?” Arthur asked.

“Because I’m attracted to you and you like to stare at my arse a lot. A lot. You think you’re being subtle but I see you doing it. I mean, you’re incredibly gay or something and I’m incredibly bi. So we should have sex. Just saying.” Arthur tipped his head back to stare thoughtfully at the ceiling. In his pocket, Merlin’s phone vibrated and he pulled it out. It was a text from Morgana. _That is not seduction_. Merlin ignored it.

“Yeah alright,” Arthur said. “Let’s go.” And to Merlin’s delight he shoved Sophia off his lap and got to his feet. It became apparent, as they gathered their coats and boots and finally made it out the door, that Arthur was a lot more drunk than he’d looked sitting down. The only reason they didn’t weave all over the street was because they’d linked arms. It was a really good thing their cabin was just up the street. Any further and they probably would have passed out in a snow bank and frozen to death and that was not how Merlin wanted to go. Not when he was about to have sex with Arthur.

Inside it was a struggle to get their outer layers off. The moment Merlin’s coat slid from his shoulders Arthur shoved him up against the door, smashing their lips together. Lining their mouths up properly took some work, especially when Merlin kept listing to the side, but they managed it and it was definitely worth the effort. Kissing Arthur was amazing. It got even better when Arthur’s hands slipped under his jumper.

“Gods,” Merlin groaned when Arthur’s mouth moved down to his neck. “Why are you such an arse?”

Arthur pulled his mouth away from Merlin’s neck long enough to protest, “I’m not an arse,” before going right back to sucking marks onto his skin.

“You are,” Merlin insisted. Arthur’s fingers found his nipples and Merlin arched off the door. “You’re really mean to me. You make fun of my ears. You call me an idiot. Are you trying to win some kind of award? Biggest prat in all of Britain maybe? I’m just saying it’s really starting to get to me. Nobody likes to be told they’re worthless all the time, you know. You-” He was cut off by a moan dragging itself from his throat as Arthur’s thigh slid between his legs to press against his hard cock. Fuck. What was he saying?

“Enough talking,” Arthur murmured. “Thought we came back here to fuck.”

“Then fuck me already.”

“Gladly.”

In theory, it was a great idea. The actual execution of it was probably a lot harder than it needed to be though, on account of neither of them being able to walk in a particularly straight line. Merlin decided they were excused because they were both shitfaced. He got stuck in his jumper and Arthur tripped over his jeans trying to get them off, but they managed to make it to a bed. Whose bed was a bit ambiguous. Merlin was just pleased to find that there were condoms and lube in the bedside drawer. He lounged against the pillows while Arthur fumbled with the lube. A glob of it missed Arthur’s fingers entirely and hit the bed. They stared at it for a moment.

“We have a washing machine for that,” Arthur declared and Merlin didn’t stop laughing until Arthur finally slid a finger inside him.

“ _Finally_ ,” Merlin said, biting back a moan because Arthur was _smirking_ at him now and it made Merlin want to punch him in his smug face.

Arthur dragged it out. Honestly, Merlin had expected messy and quick. He wasn’t sure how he felt about this slow and careful method Arthur was going for. It was agonizing, but in the best kind of way. It occurred to Merlin when there were two fingers working him over that this felt really premeditated and then he couldn’t stop wondering how long Arthur had fantasized about doing this to him, which was frustrating because they could have been doing this for a month now and instead they’d been too busy insulting each other.

By the time Arthur was sliding a third finger inside Merlin was starting to feel desperate. Some other time he was sure he would appreciate a long, drawn out fingering. Not tonight though. Especially with that damn smirk Arthur refused to wipe off his stupid face. That was _it_ , Merlin decided. He surged up, shoving Arthur off to flip them over, straddling Arthur’s thighs. Arthur blinked up at him, the sudden reversal replacing his stupid smirk with confusion.

“You’re taking too long,” Merlin explained. He ripped the condom wrapper open and rolled it onto Arthur’s cock before lifting up on his knees and sinking down. Trying to sink down. It took him a few tries because he couldn’t stop swaying. Arthur’s hands on his hips helped. But he finally did it and relished in the stinging stretch.

Arthur was decently sized. Merlin had never understood the obsession with giant dicks and could only conclude the people who thought bigger was better had never had to deal with sticking one inside them. As Gwaine had said, Arthur was a bit bigger than average, but not so much that Merlin, even drunk as he was that night, felt any trepidation over it. In fact, it felt perfectly lovely inside him. Really, it was Merlin’s ideal dick to ride. Not that he’d had the opportunity to ride a lot of dicks in his life, unfortunately. That was something he was really going to have to change.

“Fuck,” Arthur hissed. Merlin looked down at him, unable to help smirking a little bit at the wide eyed look. He rolled his hips experimentally and relished in the groan it pulled from Arthur and the hitch of his hips.

“Not so smug now are you?” Merlin said as he rose up. When Arthur opened his mouth to snap something back, Merlin slammed his hips down and Arthur’s comeback was lost in a loud moan. Merlin set a fast pace and took great joy in every sound he drew out of Arthur. 

Eventually, Arthur managed to match his rhythm. In theory, this was great, but Merlin didn’t really want nice easy sex. Arthur was an arse. He made fun of Merlin’s ears and called him an idiot and was just such a smug prat. Merlin didn’t want to play nice. 

As soon as Merlin started throwing some variety into his movements Arthur’s eyes narrowed and Merlin knew it was on. From there it morphed into a competition to see who could make the other come first. Merlin planted both hands on Arthur’s chest. He could feel Arthur’s hands digging into his hips hard enough to leave bruises.

“Give up Merlin,” Arthur panted. One of his hands tucked under Merlin’s thigh and he took control of their rhythm.

“Not a chance,” Merlin shot back and clenched around Arthur’s cock, dragging a groan from the other man.

“Pendragons. Don’t. Lose,” Arthur declared, each word punctuated with a hard thrust that threatened to unseat Merlin from his perch. It continued in that vein for several long minutes. Merlin’s thighs were burning. But it was all worth it when Arthur’s rhythm stuttered to a halt. Merlin slammed his hips down one more time and ground them in little circles through Arthur’s orgasm. He wrapped a hand around his own cock and smirked down at Arthur as he jerked himself off. His head fell back and he arched while his come spattered across Arthur’s stomach.

Merlin stayed where he was for a good long moment, mostly just trying not to accidentally dive headfirst off the bed. When the world managed to stop spinning he looked down at Arthur. Who was asleep. Merlin frowned, a little insulted. What kind of person fell asleep right after sex? Right after, while his partner was still sitting astride him. Arsehole. Whatever. It wasn’t like Merlin hadn’t already known that about Arthur. He tried to be careful about climbing out of Arthur’s lap, but overbalanced and crashed down against the mattress. His eyes fell briefly on the filthy condom and he decided it was entirely Arthur’s problem. For a few minutes he just lay there, stroking the sheets. They were very soft. At some point it registered in his mind that all the red he was seeing everywhere meant they were in Arthur’s room, which probably meant he should get up and go back to his own at some point. But the mattress was soft and the sheets were comfortable, and his limbs felt heavy and what if he slammed his head into the wall and gave himself a concussion or something? No, Merlin decided, it was much better to just stay where he was for the sake of avoiding unnecessary injuries. He’d just close his eyes until he’d sobered up a bit and then go back to his room. Yes, that sounded like an excellent plan.

  
____________________  


Merlin woke up New Year’s Day to the realization that he had just done something incredibly stupid and resolved to never ever get drunk enough to take Morgana’s insanely horrible advice ever again. Blinded by his pounding head and distinctly aware of how sore he was in certain places, Merlin stumbled out of bed, managed to find most of his clothes, and high tailed it back to his room to have a break down in peace. God. He had actually fucked Arthur last night. What was wrong with him? He downed some paracetamol and then spent the next hour alternating between pacing around his room and lying miserably on his bed. At some point he heard the door to Arthur’s room open and slam closed, followed by a muffled groan. Merlin then spent the next twenty minutes making distressed noises into his pillow until his stomach was begging him to please eat something. So it was in search of breakfast that Merlin finally shuffled out of his room, resolving to act with dignity despite remembering at that exact moment precisely how loud he had moaned while riding Arthur the previous night.

Arthur was at the kitchen table, a cup of freshly brewed tea in front of him. He had his face buried in his arms and his blond hair stuck up in every direction. It was cute. Merlin was seized by the urge to go over and run his fingers through Arthur’s hair. He reigned in the impulse, going to the fridge instead to seek out breakfast. The first thing to catch his eye was the egg carton. Eggs it was. Merlin grabbed the carton and shuffled over to the stove. The skillet was set on one of the burners with the utmost care to keep all jarring noise to a minimum. Merlin stared at the eggs for a moment, debating. Finally, he turned to where Arthur was still face planted on the table.

“Hey.”

Arthur’s reply was a muffled string of syllables that was probably gibberish anyway.

“Want some eggs?”

Another string of muffled gibberish. Merlin took it as a yes and set about making scrambled eggs for two. He set one plate down in front of Arthur, poked him in the forearm, and sat down with his own plate across the table. Arthur slowly pulled his head up to blink blearily at his eggs.

It was kind of nice, this sitting in peaceful silence while eating breakfast. Merlin just had to ignore that the lack of insults was probably due to the fact that they were both really hungover and that there was an underlying awkwardness to the silence that could be squarely blamed on the whole sleeping together thing.

“You have a lot of scars.”

Merlin looked up. Arthur had paused in consuming his eggs to stare at him.

“What?”

“They look like claw marks.”

“I have cats,” Merlin blurted and then remembered the eight inch scar running down his back that was very obviously not put there by cat claws. Maybe Arthur hadn’t noticed that one.

“Cats,” Arthur repeated. “Some of them looked pretty new.” Probably the ones across his shoulder from Aithusa. She had yet to grasp the concept that Merlin’s skin wasn’t as tough as her scales. There was also that one on his hip from Cyrus that was kind of long…

“What are you, some kind of scar expert now?” Merlin settled for a surly retort and shoveled more eggs into his mouth. Arthur scowled and went back to his own eggs. The minute Merlin’s plate was clean he left it in the sink and retreated to his room. His head was still killing him so he sent a text off to his uncle inquiring about hangover cures before burying his face in his pillow with a groan to wait for the reply. He should have never gone to Morgana’s New Year’s party. All it had gotten him was the most awkward roommate situation ever and a hangover. Nevermind that the sex had been good. The more Merlin remembered about the previous night the more he wanted to hide under the covers and never come out again. At least he could say he wasn’t the one who’d fallen asleep as soon as he’d come. Small consolation.

Gaius texted back an hour later with a list of ingredients for his hangover cure and a reminder to drink plenty of water. Merlin made sure to express his eternal thanks to his uncle before stumbling his way around the room to find clothes. Freya had once mentioned there was a local apothecary and Merlin vaguely remembered seeing it just off the main street. He dragged himself into the bathroom for a quick shower and wasted a few minutes staring at himself in the mirror because those were definitely hand shaped bruises on his hips and when Merlin said he was swearing off drinking he definitely meant it this time. Never again.

The shower was refreshing. As he was leaving Merlin noticed a few texts from Morgana and Gwen on his phone. He decided to ignore them, still far too hungover to deal with Morgana. The sky was overcast, keeping the rays of sunlight at bay, which was a great relief to Merlin’s hangover. He popped into the apothecary and read off the list of ingredients from Gaius. After a moment’s hesitation he asked for twice the amount of everything. Arthur hadn’t really done anything to deserve a hangover cure, but Merlin would make one for him anyway because it was the decent thing to do. Ingredients for a hangover cure for two thus gathered, Merlin returned to the cabin and set about mixing them together. The result tasted horrible, but with every passing minute the pounding behind his temples lessened and the nauseous feeling that had been roiling around in his gut since he’d crawled out of Arthur’s bed receded, so it must have been a success. Arthur still hadn’t come out of his room so Merlin left the second one on the counter with a quick note not to look at it, or smell it, or think too hard about it, just drink it. Then he decided he would go spend some time with the dragons. Because his other options were to stay in the cabin and deal with Arthur or go over to Gwen and Morgana’s and deal with them. Neither was very appealing. So Merlin bundled up and meandered over to the only bus stop in town to wait for the resort bus to pass through with it’s afternoon passengers.

While slumped against the bus stop sign Merlin sent Freya a text inquiring about the use of a snowmobile. He wasn’t counting on it. Freya had always required some advanced notice before lending him a snowmobile. It didn’t hurt to ask though. The reply he received when he was seated on the bus was a regretful no. He’d try and rent one then. Or maybe he’d walk. Or maybe he could teleport himself there. He knew that spell. It was very handy. Someone could see him though. Also, the spell was pretty inaccurate. It took lots of concentration to make sure you hit the spot you were aiming for and Merlin didn’t think he had the attention span for it. He’d rent a snowmobile.

While slumped against the bus stop sign Merlin sent Freya a text inquiring about the use of a snowmobile. He wasn’t counting on it. Freya had always required some advanced notice before lending him a snowmobile. It didn’t hurt to ask though. The reply he received when he was seated on the bus was a regretful no. He’d try and rent one then. Or maybe he’d walk. Or maybe he could teleport himself there. He knew that spell. It was very handy. Someone could see him though. Also, the spell was pretty inaccurate. It took lots of concentration to make sure you hit the spot you were aiming for and Merlin didn’t think he had the attention span for it. He’d rent a snowmobile.

The moment Merlin set foot in the dragon den he dropped his pack, shrugged off his coat, and declared, “I’m having boy problems.” Six heads tilted in confused curiosity. Menodora didn’t stir. Aithusa swooped down from somewhere and landed on his shoulder to nudge his cheek until he petted her. Merlin sighed.

Dragons may not have been all that good for advice on what to do when you decided to sleep with your attractive, arsehole roommate while you were drunk, but they were an excellent distraction. Theron had recently taken it upon himself to teach Cyrus how to hunt. It was something that likely should have fallen to Elpis, her being the eldest and most experienced of the bunch, but she didn’t have much interest in teaching younger dragons anything. Merlin sat back next to Menodora, Aithusa curled up in his lap, watching Theron and Cyrus. It was more amusing than productive, with Theron more interested in showing off than actually teaching. Cyrus didn’t seem to mind, young and impressionable as he was. Gaia and Elpis were curled up deeper into the cave. Merlin had observed that they spent an awful lot of time together. Like siblings. Or mates. It was cute. 

Theron reared up on his hind legs. Whatever he was trying to demonstrate was lost on Merlin. Maybe he should interfere. Or maybe not. The attempted hunting lesson was amusing.

  
____________________  


They never talked about it, aside from that one little comment about all the scars Merlin had, but after New Year’s Eve things _changed_. It was nothing noticeable at first. In the mornings Arthur would now make a second cup of tea for when Merlin finally stumbled out of his room. There were no more teasing remarks about his ears or how skinny he was. At first, when Merlin noticed the change, he enjoyed it. The cup of tea was one less thing to worry about in the morning and being able to go about his business without hearing disparaging remarks about his physical appearance or intellect was nice. Merlin figured he would now be able to go about focusing on the dragons now that he was spending less time thinking about Arthur. Only, he wasn’t spending less time thinking about Arthur. If anything, Merlin was spending more time thinking about Arthur. He nearly drove a snowmobile right off a cliff because he was so caught up in thinking about his current cabin mate situation. Then he nearly skied straight into a tree during a warm up run before his lessons because he was overanalyzing Arthur’s new habit of leaving a cup of tea for him in the morning. Merlin hadn’t thought it was possible for Arthur to do his head in any more than he already did, but that was exactly what happened all through the first two weeks of January. What with keeping the peace in the flight and still trying to figure out who the one hunting them was it was really getting to him.

“You should talk about what happened,” Gwen said. Merlin choked on his pint.

“No!” he exclaimed, too loudly, if the way nearby heads turned to raise eyebrows at him was any indication. The pub wasn’t particularly crowded that night, even by the little ski town’s standards. After a spectacular wipe out while getting off the chairlift that day because he was thinking about Arthur ( _again_ ) instead of paying attention to where his skis were pointed Merlin had grabbed Gwen and dragged her out to the local pub, forbidding her from bringing along Morgana.

“Drunk sex happens,” Gwen tried. “I’m sure if you just talk to Arthur about it you can figure things out.”

Merlin groaned, dragging a hand over his face. “I think I told him he was an arse while we were making out against the front door,” he admitted. “That’s the only thing I can think of. But that’s just…absurd! Arthur doesn’t care about what I think!”

“Maybe he does,” Gwen suggested. “Having known Arthur for a few years now I know a thing or two about him. He acts big and like he could care less about anyone’s opinion of him, but in reality he cares a lot.” She hesitated.

“What is it?” Merlin probed. Gwen bit her lip. “Come on, Gwen, you may as well keep going.”

She sighed. “Okay. It’s just…Arthur’s childhood was sort of…his father isn’t…well he isn’t the affectionate type, you know? And Arthur’s mother, she died when he was born so-“ She cut herself off with a frustrated sigh.

“So what you’re saying,” Merlin said, thoughtful frown on his face, “is that Arthur wasn’t hugged enough as a child?”

“I-yes,” Gwen said. “His only model for how to show affection for years was Uther and Uther just…doesn’t do affection. Or he does that whole tough love thing, you know?”

“Okay…”

Gwen leaned forward. “Okay, look, you know how little boys will sometimes pull on a girl’s hair because they like them?”

Realization slowly dawned on Merlin. “Wait. Are you saying that this entire time Arthur’s been pulling on my metaphorical pigtails?”

“Yes!”

Well. That certainly put things in a whole new perspective. Merlin had known Arthur was physically attracted to him. There’d been enough mutual eye fucking between them, as Morgana liked to remind him. But the thought that Arthur might have an actual thing for him, for all of him, had Merlin stunned. But then… “So what’s he doing now?”

“Well, you said you told him he’s an arse,” Gwen said, and just left it, looking at him pointedly. Merlin didn’t understand. So he’d called Arthur an arse. So what? He was pretty sure he’d said worse over the time they’d known each other thus far.

“I don’t get it,” Merlin said.

“Just think about it for a little bit,” Gwen said, patting his hand gently.

It wasn’t until Merlin was crawling into bed that night after another strange evening of Arthur trying to be polite and considerate, but clearly not understanding how to go about that, weighed down by the knowledge that Arthur had apparently been flirting with him for an entire month before New Year’s, that it clicked. He lunged for his phone and dialed Gwen’s number. Morgana answered.

“Finally figured it out?” she said.

“Damn it, I knew she’d tell you everything,” Merlin grumbled.

“Please, darling, you know there are no secrets between Gwen and me,” Morgana said. “So.”

“So Gwen was telling me that Arthur is being all weird and nice because he’s trying to impress me?” It sounded ridiculous, but Morgana hummed in agreement.

“Essentially,” she confirmed. “Clearly, his initial way of showing his affection for you failed, so he’s trying a different approach.”

“Oh god. This is all your fault you know.”

“I made the suggestion. You’re the one that followed through.”

“It wouldn’t have even crossed my mind if you hadn’t said anything!”

“Of course not.” Morgana didn’t sound like she believed him. “Well, as stimulating as this conversation is, Merlin, Gwen and I were in the middle of something when you called. Have fun, darling!” She hung up. Merlin resisted the urge to throw his phone across the room. Barely.

  
____________________  


Initially, Merlin did nothing about his recent revelation in regards to Arthur’s feelings for him. For two weeks he distracted himself with pursuing poachers. Everytime he found his mind straying to Arthur he reminded himself that this, the poachers and the dragons, were what he was really there for. He was making headway. Freya thought she’d seen the one in charge, but had been unable to get a good look at him.

“An older man,” she’d said. “In good physical shape. Sorry, that’s all I’ve got.” Hopefully they could get more now that they knew which of the cabins he was staying in. 

Eventually though he couldn’t take it anymore. The awkward politeness was worse than the insults. When he found himself heading out to the dragon den just to escape it for an afternoon it was clearly time to do something. He couldn’t do it at the cabin, just in case things went horribly wrong. So he waited until they were heading out to morning ski lessons before cornering Arthur.

“I appreciate the effort you’ve put into being nicer to me,” he began awkwardly. “But it’s really…honestly, it’s really starting to creep me out. I mean, I don’t want you to go back to being a complete arse or anything and I’d like it if you kept making me an extra cup of tea in the morning because that’s really great, but the rest of it is just kind of- well it’s- I mean-“ Merlin gave up and just looked hopefully at Arthur. Arthur, while initially looking kind of upset at Merlin’s words, now wore the hint of an amused smile, his eyes twinkling merrily in the sunlight.

“I think I get what you’re trying to say,” he said.

“Awesome,” Merlin said. “So…wanna grab a hot chocolate after lessons today?”

Arthur’s smile turned warm and happy. “I’d like that.”

“I’ll buy,” Merlin added quickly. Because contrary to what Arthur thought he wasn’t actually poor and Arthur was the one who paid for the cabin and pretty much all their food and drove Merlin to and from the resort all the time in his car with its fancy all weather tires. The least Merlin could do was pay for hot chocolate.

“Of course,” Arthur agreed. His words said yes, but his tone heavily implied that Merlin was going to have to fight him for the bill. Which was fine. They parted ways then to grab their gear and get out on the slopes for a warm up before their first lessons of the day. As Merlin rode the lift up away from the lodge he couldn’t help the tiny bit of guilt wriggling its way into his happiness. Yes, he and Arthur were finally starting to work things out. But there was still the very big matter of Merlin’s magic and the flight of dragons he was there to look after. It was poor form to start a relationship (at least, Merlin thought that’s what they were doing) with secrets. Merlin reminded himself that his job was first and foremost to protect the dragons. Everything else came second. Whether he wanted it to or not.

"Such a lovely day to spend out in the mountains, don't you agree?"

Merlin hadn't even noticed the other man on the chairlift. He glanced over, just for a moment, and found himself doing a double take before resolutely staring straight ahead.

"Yeah," he answered absently. Merlin knew that man. Or at least, knew of him. Aredian, first name unknown, was a feared figure throughout the magical community. He'd earned himself the nickname The Witchfinder for his uncanny ability to suss out magic. Merlin had spent his childhood listening to stories from other Dragonlords about Aredian's exploits. In retrospect, it didn't at all surprise Merlin to find him up here. One of Aredian's favorite past times had always been hunting dragons.

Aredian didn't speak to him for the rest of the lift ride. Merlin tried to act like nothing was wrong, but it was hard. He was a mixture of afraid and angry, the stories from his childhood warring with the knowledge that Aredian had been murdering dragons and harvesting their organs on this mountain for nearly a year. As they reached the top of the lift it occurred to Merlin that he wouldn’t get a more perfect opportunity to use the tracking spell. At the last second Merlin managed to bump into Aredian.

“Sorry,” he mumbled and moved as quickly as he could out of the way of the lift. He stood there, watching Aredian head for the top of the slope, feeling shaken and off balance. He stamped down hard on the urge to run straight to the dragon den and check on the flight. Nothing would be more stupid right now. His next thought was to head straight back to the cabin and contact his dad. But then he remembered ski lessons and his hot chocolate date with Arthur. He would just have to hold it together for the day. The resort was huge. Odds were he wouldn't be randomly running into Aredian again today. With that thought in mind, Merlin finally made his way down the slope.

  
___________________  


By the time Merlin was meeting Arthur for hot chocolate that afternoon he’d managed to push Aredian to the back of his mind for the time being. He’d taught a group of children who were on a week long vacation. They were actually already pretty good skiers and they confided in Merlin that their parents just wanted to get rid of them for a few hours. The two hour lesson had consisted more of racing each other down blue runs than any actual teaching. Merlin probably shouldn’t have been encouraging it, but it had been fun.

“Why do you always get the adorable kids and I get stuck with the snotty brats?” Arthur complained. “I had a couple of preteens who thought they were too cool for lessons or some bullshit. One of them whacked me with his pole!”

“That’s what helmets are for,” Merlin said.

“That’s not the response I was looking for,” Arthur grumbled and pouted. Merlin laughed.

“Would you like a kiss to make it better?” He got up and went over to the Arthur’s side of the table, bending to press an exaggerated kiss to his head. “There.” Arthur was rolling his eyes as Merlin went to sit back down, but Merlin could tell he was secretly pleased.

“That wasn’t the worst part of my day though,” Arthur said.

“It gets worse than a kid whacking you with his pole?”

“Sophia cornered me.” Arthur wrinkled his nose in disgust as he said it. “I’ve been avoiding her as much as possible since New Year’s. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure why I was hanging out with her at Morgana’s party. I mean, she’s attractive, sure, but her personality is a massive turn off.” Merlin frowned, but didn’t comment. He remembered the weird vibe he’d gotten from Sophia the first time he’d met her. Maybe that was something to look into.

“Speaking of New Year’s, I’m still pretty insulted that you fell asleep literally right after we had sex.”

“Oh come on, I was drunk,” Arthur grumbled. “As were you!”

“That’s no excuse.”

“Alright, so I fell asleep, my bad. You’ve got to admit, it was still fantastic sex.”

“I’m just surprised that you had the presence of mind to finger me for so long,” Merlin admitted. “Considering we couldn’t even walk straight and you tripped over your trousers trying to get them off.”

“Yeah well.” Arthur was blushing and it was kind of endearing. “I’d spent a lot of time thinking about it. I didn’t want to waste the opportunity.”

Merlin hid his smile behind his hot chocolate. “So you just laid in bed imagining what it’d be like to finger me?”

“Among other things. Which I don’t have to imagine anymore.” Here Arthur trailed his eyes slowly over Merlin’s body. “You did interrupt my fun though.”

“You were taking too long.”

“That desperate for my cock were you?” Arthur was sporting the most arrogant smirk and Merlin groaned.

“Oh my god, shut up. A month of sexual tension and all you wanted to do was finger me! I was doing us both a favor.”

“Whatever you say.”

“You know, at times like this I can completely understand how you and Morgana are related.”

“I take offense to that.”

“Good.”

The date was nice. Arthur was actually fun to be around when he wasn’t being an arse. Not that it still didn’t slip through sometimes. It was a hardwired characteristic, really, and Merlin knew that. Still, the date was nice. Merlin wouldn’t at all mind going on another.

  
____________________  


Merlin called his dad the moment he got back to the cabin, blurting out some excuse to Arthur as to why he had to lock himself in his room immediately and was not to be disturbed.

“It’s Aredian,” he said the moment the call connected.

There was a long, drawn out silence on the other end of the line before his dad finally said, “... _What_?”

“That’s who’s been hunting dragons for the past year.”

“Are you absolutely sure?”

“I sat next to him on a fucking chairlift, dad, I’m pretty damn sure.”

His dad sucked in a sharp breath. Merlin could imagine him pacing agitatedly across the floor of whichever room he was in. “Does he know who you are?”

“I don’t think so. It’s not like we sat down for a chat or anything.” The thought of Aredian knowing who he was or even just suspecting was terrifying.

“I’ll make arrangements and come up there,” his dad said, decisive.

“No, don’t do that,” Merlin said quickly. “Odds are he doesn’t know who I am or why I’m here, but you he’ll definitely recognize. Right now I have the advantage. Let’s keep it that way. Besides, I’m not alone. I’ve got Freya.”

“Alright.” His dad didn’t sound happy about it, but Merlin knew he was in the right on this one. He changed the subject. “Thoughts on what do with the flight?”

Merlin sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Moving them is probably the best option. I mean, even if we do manage to chase Aredian off, which seems unlikely, they’re too young. The youngest one doesn’t even know how to hunt yet. They’d be better off at the reserve.”

“I’ll start making the arrangements. I suppose for now your job is to just keep Aredian away from the flight for as long as possible.”

“I should be able to manage that.”

“I’m sure you can.” His dad hesitated. “Merlin, be careful. I mean it. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I’ll be fine, dad,” Merlin said, smiling a little to himself. “And if anything goes wrong you’ll be the first person I call.”

“Good. I’ll scrounge up anything we have on Aredian and email it to you.”

“That would be awesome, thanks.”

“Stay safe Merlin.”

“I will.”

Merlin hung up and took a deep breath to steady his nerves. Everything would be fine. It would take some time to make the arrangements for the dragons to move to the reserve, but all Merlin had to do until then was basically what he’d been doing since he arrived. Knowing he had to watch out for Aredian now only made Merlin more determined.

He sent off a text to Freya, telling her to meet him at the cafe when she got off work. Then he wandered out to the living room. Arthur was idly flicking through channels on the sofa. He looked up when Merlin leaned over the back.

“Everything okay?” Arthur asked.

“Yeah, just needed to check on something at home.” He hopped over the back of the couch and settled in. “Wanna watch a movie?”

Arthur shrugged. “Sure.”

  
____________________  


Freya’s text came right as the credits were rolling. Somehow during the movie Merlin had ended up back to chest with Arthur, Arthur’s arms curled around his waist and his breath tickling the side of Merlin’s neck. Merlin patted his arm to get him to let go. Arthur’ grip loosened enough for Merlin to dig his phone out of his pocket.

“I gotta go meet Freya for coffee,” Merlin announced.

“Yeah, alright.” Arthur slowly withdrew his arms so Merlin could stand.

“I’ll be back in a bit.” Merlin took two steps before turning back, staring hard at Arthur for a moment, and making a decision. Quickly, he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to Arthur’s lips. “Bye.” And then he was out the door. He was still blushing when he showed up at the cafe, sitting down across from Freya. Her eyebrows went up.

“And what have you been up to?” she asked, oh so casual.

“Nothing,” Merlin said, a bit too quickly by the way Freya smirked. “I was watching a movie. With Arthur. That’s not what I came here to talk to you about.”

“Have it your way, then,” Freya relented. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I know who the leader is,” Merlin said, suddenly going serious. “It’s Aredian.”

All the color drained from Freya’s face. “Aredian the Witchfinder Aredian?” she asked.

“Yeah. Ran into him on a chairlift this morning.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.”

“I managed to use the tracking spell on him.”

“Oh thank the gods I don’t have to do it.”

“Also, I spoke to my dad, earlier. We agreed to move the flight to reserve, but it’s gonna take a little time to set things up. Moving a bunch of dragons isn’t the easiest thing.”

Freya nodded. “How long do you think it’ll take.”

“A week, maybe two, depending on delays. I haven’t really looked at the reserve recently so I’m not sure how much space is available. They might have to make more.”

“And in the meantime we just try to keep Aredian away from the den.”

“Basically.”

Freya sighed, long and heavy. “This is exactly what I was hoping wouldn’t happen,” she muttered. “Lets hope we can get the flight out of here before Aredian manages to find them.”

“Yeah. Well, that’s all I had to say. I’m gonna go ahead and head back to the cabin. Thought I’d give you a heads up though.” He made to stand, but Freya shot out a hand and stopped him.

“Wait, there’s something I need to tell you as well.”

Merlin sank back down into his seat with a frown. “What’s that?”

“I thought we’d avert a crisis before it starts,” Freya said.

“What crisis?”

“Sophia’s a Sidhe.”

Merlin groaned. “That explains so much.”

“I didn’t like the look of her so I’ve been doing some digging. She’s got a solid backstory, but I managed to find some holes in it. I don’t know why she’s taken a human form or what she’s doing at Albion, but I’d get on that if I were you,” Freya advised. “She’s losing patience. It’s only a matter of time before she resorts to kidnapping Arthur.”

“She wants to kidnap Arthur,” Merlin repeated, flat tone indicating how done he was with all the complications that kept popping up.

“Don’t ask me how Sidhe laws work because I have no idea. I just know it’s happened before.”

“I came up here to deal with dragons,” Merlin complained. “Why does all this extra stuff keep happening?”

Freya’s smile was sympathetic. “I guess you’re just that lucky, Merlin.”

“Right. Luck. Thanks for the heads up.”

“Same to you. Let me know of any developments with Aredian or if you need help with Sophia.”

“I will.”

Great. Now he had to find time to have a chat will Sophia and make sure she wasn’t going to make off with his new boyfriend for a ritual sacrifice or something anytime soon. Maybe he could just have Elpis burn her to ashes. Gods knew the dragon would appreciate an outlet for her short temper considering Merlin wouldn’t let her pick on any of the other flight members. He’d think about it in the morning. Right now he was tired. He just wanted to go back to the cabin and curl up with Arthur. Maybe even in Arthur’s bed. And maybe this cuddling would even lead to other stuff. Stuff more in the vein of New Year’s. Only without all the alcohol. That would be a definite plus.

  
_____________________  


Merlin was sipping absently at his hot chocolate, lost in thought as he considered all his options about Aredian when Morgana slid smoothly into the chair across from him and said, "Nice hickey." Merlin blinked, a hand going automatically to his neck.

"What?"

Instead of replying, Morgana pulled out a compact and held it up. Merlin grabbed it, frowning, and tilted it until he could see the huge dark splotch just under his jawline. He stared. Well. No wonder people had been looking at him funny when he'd shown up in the locker room that day. And it really explained Arthur's smug smirk over breakfast. Merlin scowled. That bastard hadn't said a word.

"So I take it things with my brother are going well?" Morgana teased.

"Oh fuck off," Merlin muttered. “What did you want to talk to me about anyway?” Her text earlier had seemed urgent.

Morgana hesitated. She looked more tired than she usually did, the bags under her eyes darker and heavier. Merlin remembered what Gwen had said about bad dreams.

“Look, Morgana,” he began, “I’ve got a lot on my plate right now, okay? Unless this is really important can we talk about it some other time?” He made to get up and Morgana’s hand shot out, wrapping around his wrist. Merlin stilled.

“Gwen’s told you about my dreams, hasn’t she.” Morgana’s grip on his wrist was tight, almost painful.

“Um, yes, she did.” Merlin tugged at his wrist experimentally, but Morgana’s grip didn’t loosen. He cleared his throat, feeling nervous. “What about them?”

“They’re not ordinary dreams.” Morgana breathed in, shaky. She looked uncertain and it was such a strange expression on her face when Merlin had come to know Morgana as such a strong and confident woman.

“What makes you say that?” he asked, cautious.

“Sometimes…sometimes I dream about things…and then later they happen.” Morgana searched his face, but Merlin kept it carefully blank, still unsure how to respond to this. “Once, when we were kids, I dreamed that Arthur was climbing a tree and he fell and broke his arm. Three days later it happened.”

Merlin searched for something to say, but he kept coming up blank. Something about this entire situation felt frighteningly familiar, as if he’d lived this same scenario before and it was eerie.

“I found a book one day,” Morgana continued when Merlin still couldn’t find his voice. “I was in this little herbal shop in London, looking for something to help me sleep, and I saw it on the shelf. It was about magic. There was this section of it that talked about seeing the future.”

“Morgana,” Merlin started, but didn’t know where to go next. His entire life he’d been taught to keep his magic secret, to never tell a soul about it.

“Please Merlin,” Morgana said and the desperation in her voice was heart breaking. “I dreamed about you.” Merlin’s blood ran cold. “I dreamed about you,” Morgana insisted. “I dreamed your eyes turned gold. You know. You know what’s happening to me.” Merlin tried to pull his hand away.

“Morgana, I can’t-“

“Don’t abandon me!” Morgana begged and now there were tears in her eyes and Merlin felt like he was standing on an edge. The wrong words could send him tumbling down a horrific path. “Please. Help me.”

“Okay,” Merlin said. “Yeah, okay.” Hope lit up Morgana’s eyes and Merlin felt some of the tension leave the room. “I have to call my uncle. I don’t know that much about seers and seeing the future, but he’s got lots of books about this stuff.”

“Thank you,” Morgana said, heartfelt and grateful. She leaned up and kissed Merlin on the cheek and finally she released his hand from her iron grip.

“I’ll come over when I have something useful to tell you, okay?”

“Okay.”

  
____________________  


Merlin went to Sophia’s rented cabin in the late afternoon. He probably should have been apprehensive about the prospect of facing a Sidhe. Mostly he was exasperated. All he’d come here to do was handle the dragon situation. This whole thing was really escalating to levels of ridiculousness Merlin didn’t want to deal with. He was scowling at the welcome mat by the time Sophia opened the door.

“And what do you want?” she sneered.

“To have a talk,” Merlin said, and pushed his way inside.

“I’m a little busy right now, so if you don’t mind-“

“I know what you are,” Merlin declared.

Sophia eyed him speculatively. “Do you?”

“I don’t know what a Sidhe is doing all the way out here, but you’d better leave,” Merlin said.

“And what makes you think I’ll listen to you,” Sophia scoffed.

Merlin’s eyes flashed gold and he watched with satisfaction as Sophia realized she could no longer move. “I like my chances,” he said. “And if that doesn’t convince you to fuck off and leave Arthur alone then I should warn you I know of a dragon who would be perfectly happy to work out her pent up aggression on you.” He released the spell. “I suggest you pack tonight.”

“Fine,” Sophia sniffed. “I was getting bored here anyway.” She gave him a searching look. “Sure you don’t want me to take Arthur off your hands? I was under the impression you didn’t like each other all that much.”

“We’ve rethought our opinions on that matter,” Merlin said. He frowned. “What’s so interesting about Arthur anyway? Why him as opposed to any of the other guys at this resort who would happily throw themselves at you?”

“I need a prince,” Sophia said.

“A prince?” Merlin repeated.

Sophia shrugged. “I don’t make the laws. I suppose I better go pack.” She disappeared into the bedroom of the cabin. Merlin stood there frowning. Why a prince? What laws? And how did she equate Arthur to a prince anyway? Merlin didn’t know anything about Sidhe beyond the fact that they existed. In any case, it looked like Sophia was taking him seriously. If she wasn’t and he saw her at the resort tomorrow he’d make her take him seriously. For now he’d consider the situation handled.

  
____________________  


Merlin wasn’t entirely sure tracking Aredian and his men with magic was the best idea. While it did make it easier to follow their movements around the mountain, there was a reason Aredian had his fearsome reputation. For all Merlin knew he had a way of finding magical trackers. So far though it was working excellently.

Merlin chewed absently on his pen as he looked down at this map. It was littered with dots showing the movements of the poachers. They’d made it to a grand total of eleven men, twelve when Aredian was included. Generally, everyone seemed to work in pairs, sometimes combining into groups of three or more. Merlin didn’t like how far they’d made it into dragon territory, past the initial wards and far too close to the flight for comfort. He should probably head up there and put some more enchantments in place.

"What are you doing?"

Merlin jumped out of his skin. The pen went flying out of his hand across the living room. Maybe he should stop working at the coffee table. Arthur wouldn’t be able to sneak up on him as easily at the desk in his room. 

"Didn't mean to scare you," Arthur said, settling in beside him.

"It's fine," Merlin said. Arthur’s hand rested absently on his back, warm even through his thick jumper.

"So what're you doing?"

"Just..." Merlin scrambled for words. "Marking all the places I've explored on the mountain so far." Then, “I really like geography.” He could see in Arthur's eyes that he didn’t believe the excuse. Merlin could tell him. He could just blurt it out right now. No more secrets. Arthur would understand, wouldn't he? But what if he didn't? What if he hated him? The words stuck in his throat. He couldn't do it. He liked Arthur. Really liked him. He was too scared to ruin that.

"Okay," Arthur said and Merlin didn't think he imagined the disappointment in his eyes. "You wanna go grab dinner?"

"Sure. Just let me put this stuff away."

In his room Merlin just stood there, feeling like a coward.

  
____________________  


When Gaius finally emailed him back Merlin immediately texted Morgana. Her reply came within seconds and demanded that Merlin come over to her cabin immediately to talk. Merlin had been in the midst of determining the best route by which to take a flight of dragons off the mountain, but he rolled up the map, grabbed his tablet, and left.

“Where are you going?” Arthur asked. He was just coming out of the bathroom with a basket of laundry. Merlin caught sight of a pair of his pants mixed in and it left a pleasant feeling coiling in his gut for a few moments before the guilt started to strangle it.

“Morgana has demanded my presence at her cabin,” he said.

“What for?”

“She wasn’t specific. I figure it’s better to go over there now of my own free will than wait for her to drag me.”

“Wise decision.” Arthur moved around him and Merlin was at the end of the hall before he heard his name called. He turned and Arthur had paused at the door to his room. “There’s a cinema in the resort village.”

Merlin blinked. “There is?” He supposed it shouldn’t surprise him. It wasn’t a high end, expensive resort for nothing. “What about it?”

“Thought you might want to catch a film after we’re done working tomorrow?”

There was so much that needed to be done in preparation for moving the flight and he needed to keep a close eye on Aredian but- “Sure, I’d like that.”

Arthur smiled. “I’ll see what’s playing.”

The walk to Morgana’s cabin was spent in turmoil. This was all starting to look exactly like Merlin’s past relationships and those had ended in failure. The secrets and the ridiculous lies, the guilt, the denial. Merlin’s first serious relationship had taken six months to fall apart. The next one took less, as did the next one, and the next one until Merlin could see the pattern. It wasn’t always his fault. Sometimes he just dated shitty people. Arthur wasn’t shitty though. When he pulled his head out of his arse he was kind and compassionate. He saw right through most of Merlin’s dumb excuses and didn’t believe for a second that Merlin was so obsessed with geography that he went wandering around the mountain alone, but he didn’t press. Merlin knew he was waiting for him to come forth with the truth on his own. How long would it last before he got tired of waiting though? It wasn’t something Merlin wanted to dwell on.

He put it aside when he arrived in front of Morgana’s door. There would be plenty of time to dwell on the inevitable destruction of his relationship with Arthur later. Right now he had to deal with Morgana. There were dark circles under her eyes when she answered the door and the atmosphere in the cabin was subdued. Gwen was there. It was hardly a surprise, since she knew about Morgana’s visions.

“So what did your uncle find?” Morgana asked.

“I didn’t look at it all in depth,” Merlin admitted as he turned on his tablet. “Most of it was links to books he thinks you should read. There were a couple websites.” Merlin scrolled through the email a bit. “Oh, and a recipe for something he thinks might help you sleep better.”

“I’ve tried sleep aids before,” Morgana reminded him. “Everything from prescription pills to natural remedies. None of it worked.”

Merlin shrugged. “It’s up to you whether or not you actually use it.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try it,” Gwen spoke up. Morgana glanced at her, but said nothing more about it.

“The main thing to keep in mind is that whatever method you try for helping with your dreams will take time,” Merlin continued. “It’ll be frustrating at first because you’ll feel like you aren’t making any progress, but controlling magic of any form takes practice and patience. Doing things the right way, even if it’s slower, will be better for you in the long run.” Morgana didn’t look happy at the prospect of being stuck with her nightmarish visions for the foreseeable future. Her frown eased some when Gwen reached out and took her hand. “Support can go a long way,” Merlin added.

“So basically what it all boils down to is patience and practice while waking Gwen up every night,” Morgana said.

“I don’t mind,” Gwen was quick to say. Morgana didn’t look convinced. “Obviously I’d like to get a full night’s rest, but I love you Morgana. I want to help.”

“I’ll give you my uncle’s email,” Merlin said. “That way you can just contact him yourself if you have questions instead of having to go through me.”

“That…would be nice,” Morgana said. “Thank you, Merlin.”

“It’s no problem. I’m glad to help.” He wrote out Gaius’s email, forwarded the information to Morgana, and left.

  
____________________  


The minute Merlin’s lesson finished the next day he zipped off to the locker room, stored his gear, and went down to the parking lot. Arthur was already there, sitting in his car with the heat turned up.

“How’d your lesson go today?” Arthur asked.

“Good,” Merlin replied, sliding into the passenger seat. “I had a couple sweet old ladies who kept offering me baked good.”

“What, were they going to make some for you?”

“Yeah, in their rental cabin’s kitchen. I told them I’d think about it.”

“Why wouldn’t you say yes to a couple of old ladies baking you things?”

“Freya giving us leftovers from her husband’s bakery isn’t good enough for you?”

“Never turn down baked goods, that’s my motto.”

Merlin reached over and poked Arthur in the side. “Maybe that’s why you’re packing on a few extra pounds,” he teased. Arthur swatted his hand away.

“No poking the driver,” he growled.

“I don’t mind it,” Merlin assured him. “Less likely to hurt myself.”

“Unlike you and your bony everything,” Arthur shot back.

“I’m not bony,” Merlin argued. “I’m lean.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you could probably still poke my eye out with your elbow.”

“Alright, I get it! No more comments about your fat.”

Almost nobody was at the cinema. That was the great thing about going in the middle of the day. Everyone else still wanted to be out on the slopes, especially with the fresh snowfall last night and the clear sunny skies today. They raced to the counter and Arthur shoved Merlin out of the way to thrust his credit card into the ticket booth. The girl manning it just raised her eyebrows at them.

“Fine,” Merlin grumbled. “But I will be buying popcorn and drinks and if you try to stop me I will hurt you.” Arthur just smirked.

They bickered for a good few minutes over where to sit. Merlin didn’t think either of them cared where they sat. There was no one else in there anyway. Their relationship just seemed to call for bickering. It was different from the genuine antagonism of their earlier relationship though. Gwaine had once called it playful banter, for which Arthur had smacked him with a pool cue.

“We should sit in the front,” Arthur declared.

“Why would you want to sit in the front?” Merlin countered. “You have to crane your neck up to see everything. Why not just pick a row in the middle?”

“Well if we’re not going to sit in the front we should sit in the back,” Arthur said.

“Again, what’ve you got against the middle?”

“If we sit in the back we can make out and grope each other.” Here Arthur waggled his eyebrows suggestively and Merlin had to fight not to laugh.

“We can make out and grope each other anywhere in here Arthur. We’re the only ones here.”

The ended up halfway between the back and the middle because Arthur insisted they had to compromise, on account of compromise being very important for relationships. Merlin thought that was the end of it until he tried to sit down and found himself pulled down into Arthur’s lap.

“You are ridiculous!” Merlin said, but he didn’t move and he smiled when Arthur buried his face in his neck. “Are we going to sit like this the entire movie?”

“I haven’t decided,” Arthur mumbled against his neck.

If you’d asked Merlin later what the movie was about all he would’ve been able to tell was that it was actiony and things blew up because as it turned out Arthur had been very serious about making out and groping in the theater. Ten minutes into the movie and Merlin had already lost the plot because Arthur was sliding his hand up Merlin's thigh while they made out. By the time the credits rolled around Merlin was positive he was never going to able to sit in a cinema again without thinking about this and getting a hard on. They were giggling like idiots when they left the cinema. It was a good day. Then Arthur pulled his phone out to check for messages and the smile slipped right off his face.

“Fuck. My father called. Five times.”

Merlin didn’t know much about Uther Pendragon other than he wasn’t winning father of the year anytime soon. “You have to call him back?”

“Yeah, sorry.” And Arthur really did look horribly sorry. “I was going to take you out for dinner up here and…but I should really head back and return his call.”

“It’s fine,” Merlin said. “I’ll come back with you.”

“You sure? You could still go ski for another hour or so.”

Merlin slipped his hand into Arthur’s, twining their fingers together, and smiled. “I’m sure.”

In the car Merlin stared out the window with a frown on his face, thinking. He was becoming intimately familiar with guilt these days. It was particularly bad after the last few hours. There was almost nothing in the world Merlin wanted more than for this relationship to work, but that was never going to happen as long as he had his secrets. And it wasn’t as if Arthur wasn’t aware that Merlin kept secrets. He knew and instead of demanding answers he was patiently waiting for Merlin to tell him. The question was, when would that patience run out? He had to do something before that happened. He needed to talk to someone.

“Arthur?”

“Hm?”

“Could you actually drop me off at the café on main street?”

Arthur glanced at him. “Sure. Can I ask why?”

“Just thought I’d meet someone for coffee real quick while you deal with your father. I won’t be long.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Merlin waited until Arthur’s car had disappeared down one of the side streets before texting Morgana.

_Are you in town?_

Her reply was almost immediate. _Yeah. Why?_

_I really need to talk to you. Can you meet me at the café?_

_Sure._

Inside, he picked a table and sat. He didn’t have to wait long.

“You don’t look so tired,” Merlin observed as Morgana sat down with a chai tea latte.

She rolled her eyes. “You really know how to charm a girl, Merlin.” She took a sip of her tea. “What’s this about?”

Suddenly, Merlin could only stare down at the table between them. Morgana let the silence stretch for a bit before saying, “That bad, huh.”

“I don’t know what to do,” he admitted.

“About what?”

“About Arthur.”

“Ah.” Silence again, while Morgana thought. “Are you sure you shouldn’t be talking to Gwen about this?”

Merlin huffed a tiny laugh. “No offense to Gwen, but she’s too nice. You’re blunt and honest. You won’t coddle me.”

“Fair enough. Continue.”

Merlin took a deep breath. “I-“ He tried again, “I am constantly living two lives and I don’t know how to deal with that anymore.”

“Decide which one is more important,” Morgana said immediately.

“They both are.”

She tried a different approach. “If you gave up one of them today which one would you miss more?”

When had tears started blurring his vision? “I don’t have an answer.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “One of them means giving up a part of myself that I can’t live without. The other one means giving up the thing that’s made me feel whole.” He looked up. “How the fuck am I supposed to choose between that?”

Morgana didn’t say anything. She reached across the table and carefully curled her fingers around his. There was this sense of solidarity with her. Like she somehow understood when no one else ever had before. Like she’d been there, but he didn’t know where ‘there’ was or if it had ever even happened.

“Do you ever…” Merlin wasn’t sure he should continue. It sounded crazy. But if there was anyone who would understand it was Morgana. “Do you ever feel like we’ve already done this before? Like this is a second chance?”

Morgana stared at their hands, still resting together on the table. “Yes,” she said. “Sometimes…sometimes I have these dreams. They’re not like my visions. They’re not like dreams either. They feel like…memories. There’s a grand castle. Kings, queens, knights, fantastical creatures. It’s like something right out of one of my history books.” The breath Merlin released was shaky. He felt like some of the weight he’d been dragging all over the mountain with him had disappeared. He wasn’t the only one. He wasn’t alone. Not this time, whatever that meant.

“So what do I do?” he asked.

“You make the right decision this time,” Morgana answered. She squeezed his hand and got up. The right decision. Merlin wanted to say he didn’t know what that was. But he did. Stop lying. Tell the truth. Lay it all out on the table and hope it worked out. The thought of showing that much of himself was terrifying. But wasn’t that what love was? Laying yourself bare for another person and praying they wouldn’t throw it all back in your face? Arthur would be mad. There was no way he couldn’t be, not when Merlin had let things continue like this for so long. But when the anger was gone would he still be able to find it in himself to give Merlin another chance to do things right? There was only one way to find out.

  
____________________  


Arthur wasn’t in the mood for talking when Merlin got back. He’d shut himself up in his room and when Merlin poked his head in all he got was, “Not now, Merlin.” So he left Arthur to stew in his anger alone for a bit and decided to make a call of his own. He sat against the door of his room and sighed. His thumb hesitated over the call button. He really needed to talk to her though. The call connected and it was picked up on the third ring.

“Merlin?”

He released a shaky breath. “Hey mum.”

“Do you want me to go get Balinor? I don’t think he’s busy right now.”

“No. No, I want to talk to you.” Already he could feel some of the tension ease from his body.

“What do you want to talk about?”

His head thunked back against the door as he searched for the words. “Everything got really complicated. Is there a way to keep yourself from falling in love with someone?”

“Would that there were,” his mother said. “Tell me about them.”

“It’s my roommate. He’s a prat. The entire first month we knew each other all he did was insult me because he’s emotionally stunted because he wasn’t hugged enough as a child. But he makes me my favorite tea in the morning. And he doesn’t complain when we’re on the couch and I hog the blanket. He’s ticklish but pretends he isn’t because he doesn’t want to ruin his image. We watched the last Harry Potter movie and when I looked over he was crying.”

“He sounds lovely.”

Merlin smiled. “He kind of is.” Slowly, the smile slid from his face. “He thinks magic being gone is a good thing though.”

“Maybe you could change his mind.”

“Or maybe he’ll just hate me.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t tell him.”

“It’s scary.”

“Love generally is.”

Merlin picked at the carpet. “What do you think I should do?”

“What your heart tells you to. You’ll figure it out, sweetheart. Is there anything else you want to talk about?”

“No. That was all. Sorry if I interrupted something.”

“You call me any time you need to Merlin. Love you sweetheart.”

“Love you too mum.”

He looked out the window and saw that it was dark out. After a moment’s consideration he went back to Arthur’s room. The lights were off and Arthur was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Merlin went over and laid down next to him, offering silent company.

“It’s kind of impressive how good my father is at ruining an otherwise great day,” Arthur finally said.

“You don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to,” was Merlin’s reply. “We could make out instead.”

Arthur turned to look at him. “You know Merlin, that is an excellent suggestion.” He rolled over and pinned Merlin underneath him. It seemed to work as a distraction for Arthur. He lost himself in the kissing, hand wondering under Merlin’s shirt to skirt along his bare skin. It wasn’t so great a distraction for Merlin. He tried not to think about it, but the conversations with Morgana and his mother were still fresh in his mind. Now obviously wasn’t the time to spill his secrets, when Arthur just wanted to relax and enjoy himself, but it was going to happen. It had to. He sighed and Arthur frowned down at him.

“What is it?”

Merlin smiled up at him, thankful that he hadn’t bothered turning the lights on. He was sure his smile wasn’t all that convincing. It felt like it was wavering on his face, threatening to disappear behind the crushing waves of anxiety that had been enveloping him ever since he’d realized he had only one choice if he wanted a chance at being with Arthur.

“It’s nothing,” Merlin said.

“Something’s clearly on your mind,” Arthur said. “You know you can tell me anything.”

It was such a strange thing to say. They hadn’t actually known each other that long. They’d been on friendly terms for even less time. And yet Merlin did feel like he could tell Arthur everything. Almost everything. He felt like he knew Arthur better than himself. It was similar to the way he felt around Morgana, like they’d been here before.

“I just…” Merlin sighed.

“Spit it out,” Arthur encouraged.

“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” Merlin said.

“I already think you’re crazy. Come on. Just say it.”

“It’s too early to say I love you,” Merlin whispered, unable to give the words substance. “Isn’t it?” Arthur didn’t answer. His breath puffed warm across Merlin’s face. “Arthur?”

“I should probably say yes,” Arthur said. “But I feel like…”

“Like we’ve met before?”

“But we couldn’t have.”

“Who’s to say we didn’t?”

The silence stretched. Arthur moved to settle down beside him on the bed. Neither of them was really in the mood for sex anymore, not now that Merlin had brought this all out in the open.

“That’s ridiculous,” Arthur finally said, but it lacked conviction.

“All I know is that I care about you,” Merlin said. “More than anything. And I’m…I’m scared of losing you.”

“Why would you lose me?” Arthur asked. He rolled over to curl around Merlin, holding him close.

“I don’t know. Things happen.”

“You won’t lose me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know that I care about you and I don’t think that’s gonna change anytime soon.”

Merlin sighed. He hoped it wouldn’t.

  
____________________  


The next morning at breakfast was the perfect time. But Merlin couldn’t force the words out of his throat. He nearly choked on his breakfast trying to say it, trying to say anything. _I’m a coward_ , he thought. _I’m a gods damned coward_.

“Is everything okay?” Arthur asked.

Merlin forced a smile and knew Arthur didn’t buy it. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I’m gonna…” He stood up suddenly, the chair scraping across the kitchen tiles. “I’m gonna go for a walk.” Arthur looked disappointed, but nodded as he started gathering up breakfast dishes. Merlin escaped to the cold air outside as quick as he could and leaned back against the front door. For a moment he considered hopping on the next bus headed away from the mountain and forgetting he’d ever come here. And then Merlin reminded himself that there was a reason he’d come here and that reason had nothing to do with Arthur. He needed to distract himself. What better way than to do what he was actually supposed to be doing? Mind made up, Merlin set off towards The Rising Sun.

Gwaine beamed at him the moment he walked through the door of the pub. “Merlin! Got the day off?”

“Yeah.” Merlin hesitated. “Hey, I was wondering…”

“Yeah?”

“You said if I ever needed a car-”

“Say no more.” Gwaine dug through his pockets until he came up with a set of keys. “Try not to crash it, but if you do I won’t miss it.” Merlin accepted the keys, surprised.

“You’re sure you’re okay with this?” he asked.

“I trust you, Merlin,” Gwaine said. “It’s not like a really need it today anyway. All I’m doing is working.”

Gwaine’s car was an old beat up jeep and it wasn’t hard to see why he’d like an excuse to replace it. Still, as Merlin backed out of the driveway and started on his way towards the resort, he was careful with it. The radio was on and tuned to a station, but this far up in the mountains it was fuzzy. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to do. Maybe see about tracking Aredian’s men further or maybe he’d just sit in the den with the dragons. As long as it didn’t involve thinking about the mess he’d gotten himself into with Arthur.

He snagged a spot at the back of Car Park 1 and trudged up to the lodge. The resort wasn’t crowded, it being a weekday. Not for the first time Merlin wondered what it would be like to be like everyone else. No magic, no dragons, no secrets. He couldn’t imagine living without any of that, but it made things so much more complicated. It got tiring.

One of the other instructors gave him a confused look when he showed at the ski instructor lockers. Sefa, if Merlin was remembering correctly. Outside of Gwen and the Pendragon siblings he hadn’t really talked to anyone else. 

“I thought you weren’t working today,” Sefa said.

“I’m not,” Merlin said and left it at that. He retrieved his backpack from his locker. The skies were clear and bright, making for good dragon hunting weather. With that in mind, Merlin set out towards the dragon den. He’d figure out where Aredian’s men were searching today and check on the wards he’d been working on around the dragon’s territory. 

Merlin trekked out a little ways into the woods where he could be sure of privacy before using the tracking spell. Aredian and five of his men were out on the mountain today. Merlin wasn’t entirely sure how many there actually were. There were the eleven they’d tracked down so far, but for all they knew there were more than that. Merlin certainly hoped not, as the eleven plus Aredian they already had to deal with were more than enough. It only reiterated to Merlin how important it was to get the flight moved to safety.

The morning passed without Merlin’s notice. He spent his time following a pair of Aredian’s men around the mountain. Every time they set up some kind of trap or marked an area Merlin would wait until they were gone before messing it up however he could. He’d gotten quite a bit of amusement when the men had started going in circles and stopped to squabble with each other over whether or not they’d seen that particular tree before and whose fault it was. A bit more spell work sent them meandering off in the wrong direction. Then he started making his way towards the dragon den.

As he walked, Merlin found himself glancing over his shoulder and scanning the area. It felt like there was someone watching him. Feigning casual, he altered his course to wander off in a random direction through the trees. If one of Aredian’s men had managed to get on Merlin’s trail he couldn’t afford to lead them anywhere near the flight. He found himself in a gully between two parts of the forest. Halfway across it he heard the loud crack of a tree branch snapping. He whipped around.

“Who’s there?”

There was no answer, but if Merlin reached out with his magic he could sense someone hiding in the shade of the tree.

“I know you’re there. Come out where I can see you.”

A figure finally detached itself from the shadows of the forest. The closer it moved the more familiar it was until Merlin was looking at Arthur.

“Arthur, what-“

“What the hell is going on Merlin?” Arthur demanded.

“Did you really follow me all the way out here?” Merlin asked, unsure if he was pissed off at being followed or impressed that Arthur had kept at it for hours.

“Don’t dodge the question!” Arthur snapped, but he answered anyway. “I went up to the resort to spend the day skiing and happened to see you. So I followed you because I don’t know if you think you’re a master at lying Merlin, but you suck at it and I’m getting tired of waiting for you to tell me. Do you really trust me that little?”

“It’s not about trust,” Merlin said. “I do trust you!”

“Really? Because you have a funny way of showing it!”

Merlin was aware that their voices were getting louder and louder, echoing off the mountain. “Please, Arthur, can we talk about this later? I promise I’ll explain, but-“

“Oh no, I’m done with this,” Arthur interrupted. “You tell me what the hell is going on right now Merlin or we’re through.”

“Are you- you’re giving me an ultimatum? Arthur-“ Merlin cut himself off, staring over his shoulder at his bag quizzically.

“What are you-” Merlin hushed Arthur as he shrugged his bag off. He dug around inside until he came up with the radio he kept in there. It was always good to be prepared for disaster, Merlin had learned. He stared down at the radio with a frown. It was tuned to a random frequency outside the normal range most skiers and snowboarders would be using. It was absurd for it to be picking anything up. And yet it was.

“Ah glad to see I’ve got your attention,” a familiar, smooth voice said. All the color drained from Merlin’s face. His thumb was a little shaky as it pressed down on the talk button. He scanned the area with both his eyes and magic, looking for Aredian.

“What do you want?” He was aiming for a calm, serious tone and hoped he hit it well enough. Aredian was not the sort of man you showed weakness in front of.

“I rather think I should be asking you that question,” Aredian replied. “You are, after all, the one who has been tracking myself and my men all over the mountain. But I think I can guess. I should have known it would only be a matter of time before the Dragonlords sent someone to investigate. I wouldn’t have expected someone quite so young though. Are you sure have the experience to handle this?” Merlin bristled, but didn’t rise to the bait.

“I’d ask you to leave the mountain, but I already know you won’t listen,” Merlin said.

“I assume the same of you,” Aredian replied. “Luckily, I have a solution.”

“What?”

“You’ll find out soon. Now if you will excuse me I’ve got quite a busy day ahead of me. Goodbye.”

“Aredian!” But all Merlin got from the radio was static. He swore, shoving the thing back in his bag.

“Who the fuck is Aredian?” Arthur demanded.

“Arthur-”

“What the hell is going on?”

“Arthur-“ Merlin cut himself off again, mid shout.

“Merlin-“

“Shut up!” Merlin snapped urgently. Without the echo of their voices he could hear a low rumbling. Dread settled in Merlin’s gut. Aredian wouldn’t. But he would, Merlin knew. Better than shooting them, wasn’t it? People asked questions when bodies with bullet holes turned up, but if they were buried…Already knowing what he would see, Merlin turned around, looking up the length of the slope, and saw the avalanche hurtling towards them.

“Fuck,” Arthur hissed. “Fuck! Merlin-“ This time when he said Merlin’s name it was desperate, not angry. They couldn’t move out of the way in time. Aredian had aimed his avalanche perfectly, putting them right in the middle of it. There was no escaping. But Merlin would be damned if he died here, if he let Arthur die here.

“Arthur,” he said quickly, urgently, “I know it looks like we’re fucked, but I need you to trust me. I can get us out of this. Please.” Arthur hesitated, but it wasn’t much of a choice. Trust Merlin and maybe survive or die for sure because there was no way in hell they were getting out of the path of that avalanche. The snow was nearly upon them when Arthur nodded. Merlin had just enough time to throw himself at Arthur, thrust out a hand towards the oncoming snow, and call out a shielding spell. He felt the impact of the snow against his shield, heard Arthur’s startled gasp, and then all his concentration was focused on keeping a bubble of safety around them as the avalanche crashed down the slope.

It seemed to stretch on for eternity, though it couldn’t have lasted more than 30 seconds, probably less. In the dark Merlin nearly panicked until he recognized Arthur’s solid weight pressed against his side. For a moment he remained frozen in stark terror, aware that his shield was the only thing keeping them from being crushed under the weight of the snow. Panic started crowding into his mind. What if he couldn’t hold it? What if his shield failed? Nobody knew where they were, they didn’t have avalanche beacons, who knew how deep under the snow they were, what if their air ran out-

Merlin forced his mind away from his desperate thoughts and reminded himself that he was a powerful warlock. Holding a bunch of snow up was child’s play for him. And with the amount of space around them they had a decent amount of air. They didn’t have to worry about carbon dioxide build up right away. Merlin noticed he was breathing too rapidly. With effort, he convinced himself to calm down. Then he turned to Arthur. He couldn’t see Arthur’s face so without really thinking about it he held up his hand and said, “ _Leot_.” A bright little ball of light shimmered to life in his palm. By it’s illumination he could see the way Arthur was gaping at him.

“Are you alright?” Merlin asked. “You’re not hurt?”

Arthur’s jaw worked up and down a few times. “Magic,” he finally croaked. “You’re using magic.”

“Um...yes?”

“Magic is dead?” Arthur said. It sounded like it was meant to be a statement, but suddenly veered up at the end to form a question.

“I have a lot of explaining to do,” Merlin acknowledged. “But can I do it after I’ve gotten us out of here? We’ve only got so much oxygen.” That seemed to jolt Arthur back into the present where they were buried underneath layers of snow from a purposefully triggered avalanche. His face suddenly went pale and he swallowed. Merlin could see him making an effort to keep calm. “We’ll be fine, Arthur. I promise,” Merlin hurried to say.

“You’re sure?” Arthur sounded skeptical and Merlin reminded himself that Arthur’s entire worldview had just been challenged because a man who hunts dragons for a living had tried to murder them with an avalanche. Not that Arthur knew the avalanche was deliberate. The point was, he was entitled to his skepticism.

“Positive.” How he was going to go about getting them out was another matter entirely, but Merlin wasn’t going to mention that. He probed at the snow with his magic, worming his way through layer after layer until his magic tasted air. They weren’t that far from the surface. A couple meters. Closer than it felt, at any rate. Stuck underneath the snow like this it felt like miles. Getting out would be a bit tricky. The shield had to be maintained to ensure the snow wouldn’t collapse on top of them. At the same time Merlin had to dig through to the surface. At least he knew he was capable of it. As long as he didn’t let his fear get the best of him- and Merlin was scared- everything would be fine.

It was slow going. Arthur was silent the entire time. Merlin could feel his gaze on him and fought not to let it distract him. The first beam of sunlight filtering down to them was exhilarating.

“You did it,” Arthur said, breathless. “You did it Merlin!” He turned and hauled Merlin into a hug. “We’re not going to die!”

“We’re not going to die!” Merlin repeated. They kept on for a few more minutes. Then Arthur looked up at the tunnel Merlin had created to the surface and frowned. “What?” Merlin asked.

“How are we supposed to get up there?”

Merlin looked up as well. He stretched an experimental hand up towards the sunlight. His fingertips just brushed the edge. “Well. Um. Fuck.”

Arthur sighed, all the relieved joy of the previous moment leaving him. “Just great.”

“At least we don’t have to worry about air,” Merlin pointed out. Arthur just gave him a look before turning away to start pacing. Meanwhile Merlin stared up at the blue sky visible through the hole and searched for a solution.

  
____________________  


Maybe he could raise the ground up? Changing the geography of a mountain though wasn’t really the best idea, especially right after an avalanche. Well, the only other solution was to dig a different tunnel, really. One that they could actually get to.

“What the hell is that.”

Merlin glanced over at Arthur and followed his gaze up to the opening. A goldenrod head was sniffing curiously at the edge.

“Gaia!” Merlin exclaimed. The dragon tilted her head at him. “Is it just you or-“ Another head appeared in the entrance. Elpis. “Okay, alright, I can work with this.”

“Merlin, what the hell are those?”

Right. Arthur.

“They’re uh, they’re dragons,” Merlin said.

“Dragons,” Arthur repeated. “Dragons are extinct.”

“Look, can we talk about this later?” Merlin pleaded. “I know how to get us out of here now.” Arthur huffed and didn’t reply. From his backpack, Merlin extracted a rope he’d never thought he’d need. Like the radio, he’d tossed it in there because he’d been taught to be prepared for anything. No doubt his dad would be proud to know his teachings were paying off.

“Gaia, Elpis,” Merlin called. The two dragons gave him their full attention. “I’m going to throw this rope up to you. You need to catch it and hold it steady so Arthur and I can climb up.”

“Do they even understand a word you’re saying?” Arthur snapped. Merlin ignored him. It took three tries before Merlin tossed the rope high enough for Elpis to snap her jaw closed on it while Arthur watched him with an unreadable expression. Elpis and Gaia disappeared from the hole. Merlin gave the rope a few good tugs and it held. Dragons were strong creatures, holding the weight of a human shouldn’t be a problem for them.

“Okay, go ahead,” Merlin said, gesturing for Arthur to grab the rope. Arthur stared at him, doubtful.

“You’re joking,” he said. “How do I know they can actually hold my weight?”

“They’re dragons, Arthur,” Merlin said, a little impatient. He wanted to be out of there. He needed to warn Freya, he needed to speak to his dad, and he needed to make sure the flight was okay. “Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.”

Arthur scoffed. “Trust you-“

“Yes, I know, I lied,” Merlin snapped. “I kept secrets. But I would never do anything that would put your life in danger.” They stared each other down for a moment longer. Finally, Arthur turned away and grabbed the rope. He climbed it with ease. When he’d cleared the opening, Merlin started his own climb. He emerged into late afternoon sunlight. A large head bumped against his shoulder and Merlin turned to Gaia, settling a hand against her scales. Her worry was broadcasting loud and clear.

“I’m alright,” Merlin murmured. They must have sensed him using magic during the avalanche. He hoped they were the only ones who’d gone out to investigate and that the others were still safe.

“We’re about to be caught in a storm,” Arthur announced. Merlin looked up at the sky. Grey clouds were starting to encroach on the blue and now that he was paying attention he could feel the warning prickling across his skin. His magic had always been sensitive to the natural elements. He thought back to the map he’d spent so many hours pouring over.

“I think there’s a cave nearby we can take shelter in,” Merlin said.

Arthur gestured magnanimously. “Lead the way.”

Merlin started off across the snow. Gaia and Elpis flanked him, like they intended to protect him from any more threats. The gesture warmed him. A glance over his shoulder showed Arthur trailing along, alternating between throwing suspicious glances at the dragons and Merlin. Immediately the warmth fizzled out. This was definitely not how he’d wanted Arthur to find out about everything. If he’d just said it that morning in the kitchen instead of running out like a coward… But there was no use in dwelling on the what ifs, his mother always said. You couldn’t change what had already happened. The best you could do was deal with the consequences.

The wind was picking up by the time they made it to the cave and the sky was darkening with more than the setting sun.

“Are you sure there’s nothing live in here?” Arthur asked as they picked their way over the rough stone floor.

“Nothing that would want to mess with two dragons and a Dragonlord,” Merlin said. “I don’t think so, though. Feels empty.” Arthur gave him a strange look, but left it at that. They went back far enough in the cave that the wind wouldn’t reach them and then Merlin set about getting a fire going. He had some wood he’d found on the cave floor all piled in a circle of rocks and was contemplating whether or not he should use magic to light it when Elpis leaned in close. She expelled a small stream of flame, just enough to light the fire, before sitting back and beaming proudly. Merlin smiled.

“Thanks,” he said, scratching the ridge of her brow to show his appreciation. Gaia flopped down beside him and nudged her head into his lap. After a few long minutes Arthur finally took a cautious seat on the other side of the fire. He was waiting for an explanation, Merlin knew, but even with it all out in the open the words refused to unstick from his throat. He’d never told anyone about his magic. His parents and those who worked on the reserve had known since he was born. Will had found out by accident, as had Lance. Elena didn’t even know yet. And he still hadn’t actually confessed to Morgana that he had magic, even though she’d told him she’d seen it in her visions. Arthur was the first person outside his family that he was actually going to discuss his own magic with. It felt strange and right at the same time. Like Merlin had been waiting for years to tell Arthur about his magic. It made as much sense as the other odd moments he’d had at the mountain, like deciding to help Morgana and feeling like he knew all these people so much better than a few months should allow.

“What’s a Dragonlord?” Arthur finally asked. Merlin swallowed. He could do this. Besides, Arthur more than deserved an explanation after everything that had happened that day.

“Dragonlords are a race of people who can talk to and tame dragons,” Merlin explained.

“With magic,” Arthur stated.

Merlin’s Dragonlord abilities had never felt like the rest of his magic, but it was magic of a sort, he supposed. “Basically.”

“And you’re a Dragonlord?”

Merlin nodded.

“So you can make dragons do whatever you want?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Merlin said.

“So you can’t?”

“Well, I could,” Merlin admitted. “But with great power comes great responsibility. Haven’t you seen Spiderman?” Arthur snorted at the reference.

“So there’s some great Dragonlord moral code meant to keep you from abusing your power over dragons?” he asked.

“That’s one way of putting it.”

“Okay. So there are Dragonlords. Which aren’t really mentioned in any history books.”

“There are a lot of things not really mentioned in history books, but go on.”

Arthur looked heavenward, possibly offering a silent prayer for patience with this entire situation. “History books also apparently don’t realize that dragons aren’t actually extinct. Nor are sorcerers.” Merlin said nothing, just waited. Arthur ran his hands through his hair several times and Merlin wanted to go over and smooth it down, but refrained. He wasn’t entirely sure Arthur wanted him anywhere near his side of the fire right now. He settled for stroking his hands over Gaia’s scales.

“This is all psychotic,” Arthur declared. “There are dragons living on Mount Albion and my boyfriend is a sorcerer. What are you even doing up here?”

Merlin frowned, not quite following. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know about you, but I find it highly suspicious that after a conversation with someone you clearly don’t get along with it we just happened to almost get killed by an avalanche,” Arthur explained, as if he were speaking to a five year old. “People don’t just randomly go around murdering other people with avalanches. And I was watching you before that. You were looking for something. Something that guy didn’t want you to find. So I’ll ask again, what are you doing up here?”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Merlin tried to deflect and recognized that even with everything out in the open he was still trying to hide and keep secrets. He’d spent so long clinging to the lies and secrets. It was hard to let it all go, even with Arthur glaring at him over the fire. Was this what being a compulsive liar felt like? Was he a compulsive liar?

“Well, we’ll be stuck here for a while,” Arthur pointed out. “So start talking.”

“I- okay.” Merlin took a deep breath to steel himself and began. He started with a brief overview of the Dragonlords’ responsibilities. From there he moved on to receiving the assignment from his dad back in November, all the last minute arrangements, trying to figure out who was responsible for hurting the flight. Arthur didn’t interrupt, despite looking like he wanted to a few times. Merlin’s throat was sore by the time he was done. He shrugged off his backpack and dug through it for his water bottle.

“Don’t suppose you have any food in there?” Arthur asked. As if to further push the point Merlin’s stomach chose that moment to growl, reminding him that neither of them had had anything since their late breakfast.

“Um…” Merlin dug further into his bag. Food was another thing he’d been taught to carry with him at all times, but he couldn’t remember if he’d restocked his pack after his last trip… His hand brushed against something that crinkled. A wrapper. He pulled it out. “A couple protein bars.” He tossed one to Arthur. “Sorry. I should’ve thought about that first,” Merlin muttered as he peeled back his own wrapper.

“It’s been a long day,” Arthur excused. They ate in silence, tossing the water bottle back between them a few times. In the distance Merlin could hear the wind howling outside the cave. He couldn’t wait for this whole thing to be over with. When the flight was no longer on the mountain Aredian would leave and Merlin could actually enjoy his time on the mountain. Well, he thought as he glanced at Arthur, maybe not.

“So I have another question,” Arthur spoke up, balling the protein bar wrapper in his hand. “You said that this entire assignment or whatever that you’re on was extremely last minute. When did you find time to get your ski instructor certification?”

“I-” Merlin bit his lip, eyes falling to the crackling fire. His lack of answer was answer enough.

“You don’t have a ski instructor certification do you. For fucks sake, you’re teaching children Merlin!”

“It wasn’t my idea!” Merlin protested. “Besides, it’s not like I have no idea what I’m doing! I do actually know how to ski and I know more than the basic first aid they require!”

“Fixing a human isn’t the same as fixing a dog, Merlin!”

“That’s not what I was talking about! Christ, Arthur-”

“How did you even get this job if you don’t have any certification? No wait, I can guess. Forged documents. Fantastic. My boyfriend is a sorcerer and a criminal. This is just great. Is there anything you didn’t lie about?”

“There’s a lot I didn’t lie about,” Merlin said.

“Like what?” Arthur demanded. “Give me one good example.”

“Last night,” Merlin blurted. Then, much more quietly, “All that stuff I said last night I-” He choked on the words. “I know you’re mad at me right now and you have every right to be. I know you’ll probably never trust me again, but I meant every word of it and I’ll never take it back.” Merlin reached up and quickly wiped the moisture from his eyes. Arthur wasn’t looking at him. His eyes were focused on the wall of the cave, expression blank.

“You said you were scared of losing me,” Arthur said flatly. Merlin could only nod. “Is this what you meant?” Another nod. Arthur sighed. “We should get some sleep.” He laid down with his back to Merlin, a clear sign that they were done talking for now. Merlin stayed up for a bit longer, staring miserably into the flickering fire. Elpis gently set her head on his shoulder and Merlin pressed his cheek against her scales.

_I really screwed this up_ , he thought. Arranging his pack to act as a pillow Merlin settled down for the night. Gaia cozied up against his back, her natural heat seeping through his thick coat and chasing the chill from his bones. Merlin looked at Elpis and before he could even ask she was moving across the fire to lie beside Arthur. Arthur’s body went tense when he noticed the presence of the dragon and Merlin held his breath, but eventually he relaxed into the extra warmth.

  
____________________  


Arthur wasn’t anywhere to be seen when Merlin woke up. He jerked awake, startling Gaia, and scanned the cave. No sign of Arthur, but Elpis was still sleeping on the other side of the fire where she’d flopped down by Arthur last night. Merlin stumbled past the glowing embers of the fire towards the mouth of the cave and immediately relaxed when he caught sight of Arthur’s silhouette against the early morning sky. He must’ve been cold standing there like that, even with his insulating winter clothes. Belatedly, Merlin remembered the barrier that kept the dragon den nice and warm. He could have done something similar.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Merlin knew that he should be doing something. Aredian was still out there and gods only knew how long it would take him to find the dragon den, even with the extra protection Merlin had added. But he couldn’t take his eyes off Arthur. Sadness weighed his heart down and made his entire body feel sluggish. For a while Merlin had thought he had a chance with Arthur. It had been a foolish hope, he supposed.

Merlin didn’t know how much time had passed before Arthur finally turned to look at him. They wasted long minutes just staring at each other. Then Arthur sighed.

“I don’t want this to be the end,” he said quietly. Something an awful lot like hope fluttered in Merlin’s chest.

“I don’t either,” he said. Then, after a beat of silence, “I’m sorry.”

Arthur sighed again. “It’s a lot to take in.”

“I guess I’ve never thought about it.”

“Yeah. The avalanche didn’t help.” No, Merlin supposed it hadn’t. “Thank you, by the way. I’d be dead if you hadn’t…”

“Yeah. I- don’t worry about it.”

Silence once more settled over them, though less tense than when Merlin had first woken up. Merlin tested a little smile, uncertain and tentative as it was. Something eased in his chest when Arthur returned.

“We should head back,” Arthur suggested. The storm from last night was gone, leaving behind clear blue skies for miles.

“You go back,” Merlin said. “I need to go check on the flight.”

“Don’t be an idiot Merlin,” Arthur said. “It’s cold and we barely have any food out here.”

“I have a responsibility Arthur. These dragons are depending on me to protect them.”

“By what, starving to death?”

“I’m not going to starve.” Merlin moved to shove past, but Arthur grabbed his arm.

“I get that you’re worried,” Arthur said. “I really do. But you’re cold and tired and hungry. We both are. For fucks sake, we were nearly killed in an avalanche yesterday!”

“Arthur-”

“I’m not going to have you passing out in the middle of the mountain so you can freeze to death, alright? We’re both going back, even if I have to drag you.”

Merlin huffed a laugh. “Okay. Okay, I’ll go back. Just let me go grab my pack.” The dragons were still asleep so he clapped his hands together and shouted, “Hey!” Gaia jerked awake, alert and ready to get the hell out of there. Elpis just eyed him irritably. “Thank you so much for your help yesterday. Arthur and I are heading back to the resort so you should go on back to the den. Elpis, I want you to make sure everyone stays safe.” She didn’t look terribly excited about it. “I mean it. I’m going to get the flight moved to a nice new place where you’ll all be safe and cared for, but until then you’re the eldest so you’ve got to take responsibility. Can I count on you?” Elpis’s response amounted to ‘I’m not happy about this, not by a long shot, but since you asked so nicely I’ll do what I can.’ “Thanks. I’ll try and come by tomorrow, alright?”

Elpis and Gaia followed him out of the cave and Merlin watched as they took off into the air. When they were no more than tiny specks in the sky, he turned to Arthur. “Alright, let’s go.”

  
___________________  


The ski resort was up and running for the day by the time they got back. It occurred to Merlin that one or both of them might have been expected to work today. He couldn’t bring himself to care. All he wanted was to go back to the cabin, eat, and sleep for the rest of the day. First though he had to return Gwaine’s car. Hopefully he hadn’t missed it.

Arthur parted ways with him without a word. He’d been unreadable since convincing Merlin to not be an idiot and go visit the flight while he was cold and tired and hungry. Merlin wasn’t sure where he stood with Arthur anymore. It was his own fault. If he’d said something sooner maybe things would’ve turned out differently. There was no way of knowing now.

Merlin left Gwaine’s car at his house and tucked the keys into an old, unused milk box on the porch. He picked his way home slowly, in no rush to spend the day in an undoubtedly awkward silence with Arthur at the cabin. But when Merlin did finally get there, Arthur wasn’t home. His car was parked in the driveway, but Arthur himself had apparently gone out. Merlin didn’t worry about it. He threw some leftover spaghetti in the microwave and remembered that he really needed to call his dad. He didn’t pick up, probably busy somewhere out on the reserve, so Merlin left a message with a highly edited version of recent events and a request to call him back ASAP. Then he scarfed down his leftovers, collapsed into bed and slept through to the afternoon.

_Arthur still wasn’t there when Merlin stumbled his way out of his room. There were a few texts on his phone from Gwen._

_Are you okay?_

_Arthur’s over here talking to Morgana about you. It sounds pretty serious. Do you want me to come over?_

_Let me know if you want to talk._

_I’m sorry things got so complicated for you._

_If you don’t text me back that’s fine, but I’ll probably swing by to check on you this evening, okay?_

Merlin smiled. Gwen really was a solid friend. He was tempted to text her back, but he didn’t particularly want to talk right now. Maybe when she came over later he’d feel more up to it. For now though he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. There was nothing from his dad yet. Merlin puttered around the cabin for a few minutes, but he didn’t know what to do with himself. Finally he decided to go for a walk, maybe to the shrine in the woods. Just anything to get out of the cabin for a while and not think about what had happened yesterday.

  
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The cabin was dark when Merlin got back. Arthur was still out then. Merlin knew his primary concern should be the dragons, but the only thing he really wanted to do right now was talk to Arthur. He understood though that it was best to give him space to think about everything. It didn’t stop him from feeling a twinge of disappointment as he approached the cabin. He noticed that three gnomes had shown up while he was gone, each of them seemingly trying to outdo each other for the most outrageous position. It brought a small smile to his lips, imagining the look on Arthur’s face when he finally came back and saw them. The smile disappeared behind a confused frown when he noticed something attached to the doorframe of the cabin. When he got closer he saw it was an envelope. Strange.

Merlin plucked the envelope from the doorframe and retreated back inside, eyeing it warily. He didn't recognize the handwriting spelling out his name in elegant cursive, but the sight of it made him uneasy. The note inside was short and blunt.

'Be at the resort in an hour.'

There was something else in the envelope. Frowning, Merlin upturned it and watched something small clatter to the kitchen table. When he recognized it panic shot through him. A claw. A dragon's claw. And there was only one dragonling on the mountain small enough for it to belong to. Merlin didn't think about how it was almost assuredly a trap or the sun was long below the horizon or anything else. He snatched his coat up, stuffed his feet into his boots, grabbed Arthur’s keys, and threw himself into the car.

The resort car park was dark and empty when he reached it. Snow had started up while he drove, coating the concrete beneath his boots in a thin white layer. The silence sent a shiver of unease down his spine. Aside from Merlin’s muffled footsteps the resort was quiet. He bypassed the empty ticket booths, eyes sweeping the area for signs of an ambush. It dawned on him, as he caught sight of a burly man holding the door of the main lodge open, that he probably shouldn’t have gone off alone. At the least, he should have left a note at the cabin for Arthur. But Merlin couldn’t help it. Aithusa was like his child and the thought of Aredian hurting her had panic and anger singing through Merlin’s veins in equal measures. She was so small, her jaw not yet able to tear chunks of meat from a kill and still figuring out how to fly. Her favorite place to be was perched on Merlin’s shoulder, where she could butt her head against his cheek until he paid attention to her.

The lights in the downstairs of the lodge were off and as a result Merlin tripped up the stairs to the upper dining area. He was nudged in the direction of the staircase leading up to the restaurant. His magic pulled and strained against his hold on it, sensing Aithusa. Merlin mentally reached out to her and had to fight not to flinch when he felt pain and fear emanating from her.

Aredian stood in front of the window, back to Merlin. Merlin had the urge to shove him through the glass, but he withheld it when his gaze landed on the man gripping Aithusa by her small, slender neck. She cried out when she saw him. Merlin would have run across the room to her had his escort not clamped a heavy hand down on his shoulder when he lurched forward. Aredian looked over his shoulder.

“Ah, Mr. Emrys,” Aredian said, turning to face him, a smirk stretching across his face. “Or would you prefer Merlin?” Merlin didn’t deign to reply. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that Balinor sent someone to investigate. I am surprised to find it was you. I hadn’t been aware Balinor had any children.” He spoke like they were just two old friends catching up and it made Merlin’s stomach roil. Aredian clapped his hands together. “Enough of that. Let’s get down to business, shall we?” He gestured to Aithusa.

“I must admit, at first I was quite angry to see that you and your friend had survived the avalanche,” Aredian began. “Witnesses are very inconvenient things. But then one of my men radioed me to report that they had captured a young dragon and I realized that this could only work to my advantage.”

“What do you want?” Merlin snapped, losing patience. Any other time he would have already wiped that smug smirk off Aredian’s face, but not with Aithusa at risk.

“Ah,” Aredian said, “now I’m starting to see the resemblance to Balinor. He can be quite the impatient man as well. But I agree, let’s move things along. As you can see I have one of your dragons and I am not averse to harming her. Now we both know there’s a flight of dragons somewhere on this mountain. I could continue to hunt them as I have for the past year, but it is getting quite tedious. So here is what I propose. We will all go to a more convenient location, you will summon what remains of the flight, and I will consider returning this young dragonling to you and allowing you to leave this mountain in one piece.”

Merlin wasn’t actually as stupid as Aredian seemed to think he was. If he just went along with it Aredian would kill him along with the dragons, including Aithusa. But he didn’t have much of a choice right now. Still, Merlin hesitated. It was his sworn duty to protect the dragons and even just thinking about putting them in harm’s way made him cringe.

“Let me give you some incentive,” Aredian said. He gestured to the man holding Aithusa. “Cut her wing.”

“No!” Merlin screamed. The man behind him wrapped both arms around Merlin to keep him in place as another one drew a knife. Aredian kindly held Aithusa’s wing open. She struggled against her captors’ hold. The knife cut through the thin membrane of her wing and ripped a cry from Aithusa that echoed in Merlin’s heart. “Stop! Stop! I’ll do it! Just stop!” Aredian gestured to his man. The knife was put away and Aithusa slumped against the table. Merlin wasn’t aware how hard he was shaking until he was released and his knees buckled under him. He felt sick.

“Excellent,” Aredian said. “Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

Merlin found himself shoved down the stairs and out into the cold night air. Up by the lifts were a number of snowmobiles being looked after by another one of Aredian’s men. The journey wasn’t a long one. They put enough distance between them and the resort to be assured some privacy, but not so far that they were at risk of getting horribly lost. Not that Merlin was opposed to getting horribly lost right now. With his magic and his knowledge of the mountain he was pretty sure he could survive, but none of Aredian’s men looked like they were prepared to spend any extended amount of time out in the wilderness.

They stopped in a clearing. Aredian’s men shoved Merlin to the center and took up positions among the trees, blending in with the darkness and the foliage. The one who had hold of Aithusa made himself just visible enough to where Merlin could pick out Aithusa’s unmistakable white scales in the dark, but she wouldn’t be seen from above.

“I think you can see how this will go Merlin,” Aredian said. “It’s quite simple. You call the dragons here to this clearing, my men lie in wait and ambush them when they arrive. And if you refuse, I will kill the little dragon and then I will kill you.” Then he turned away and joined his men in the undergrowth.

Merlin didn’t know what to do. He stood there in the middle of the clearing, paralyzed with fear, mind blank with his panic. He needed to think. He needed to do something. Options, options, what were his options? Call the dragons to him, which would only result in Aredian killing all of them. Refuse to call the dragons, which would result in Aithusa’s death followed swiftly by his own. Or he could…

He could attack Aredian and his men. His magic was powerful. Merlin had always known that. He could do it. He’d have to go for the man holding Aithusa first, but after that… He’d just have to hope nobody managed to shoot him before he could either take them all out or get away.

As Merlin came to terms with his decision he noticed movement from the corner of his eye. One of Aredian’s men was moving through the underbrush towards Aithusa. Merlin tracked his movements curiously, trying to be subtle about it. He couldn’t figure out what the man intended. And then things got even stranger when the man attacked his companion, the one holding onto Aithusa. The surprised shout attracted all attention in the clearing. Merlin decided not to waste the opportunity. Shouting a spell, he didn’t wait around to see what kind of damage it did. He took off across the clearing, tearing through the snow to get to Aithusa and the man now holding her, who was pulling down the neck gaiter covering his face and-

It was Arthur. Merlin skidded to a stop by him. “What are you-“

“Not now, Merlin,” Arthur said. “We need to get out of here.”

“Right.” Shots rang out. Merlin reacted on instinct and threw up a shield to block the bullets. Protected, he and Arthur sprinted to the snowmobiles. 

“Don’t let them get away!” Aredian roared. Arthur threw his leg over the nearest snowmobile, tucking Aithusa securely in front of him. Merlin scrambled on behind him and then they were off into the trees. Merlin didn’t think they were going towards the resort, but he didn’t care right now. As long as they were going away from Aredian and his men.

“Don’t let them get away!” Aredian roared. Arthur threw his leg over the nearest snowmobile, tucking Aithusa securely in front of him. Merlin scrambled on behind him and then they were off into the trees. Merlin didn’t think they were going towards the resort, but he didn’t care right now. As long as they were going away from Aredian and his men.

Merlin had the sudden epiphany that they were on a mountain which meant there were cliffs that couldn’t be seen even on a clear sunny day. He murmured a spell under his breath and let his magic show him the way ahead. Panic seized him.

“Arthur!” Merlin shouted. “Arthur stop! There’s a cliff up ahead! We’re heading straight for it!” He felt Arthur tense and a second later the snowmobile was skidding to a halt. It overbalanced, tipping them into the snow, but at least they weren’t hurtling off a cliff. Merlin had enough time to realize he recognized the area they were in before the roar of another snowmobile caught up to them. He struggled to his feet, pulling Arthur with him. The snowmobile stopped and Aredian casually swung off it. He took his time stepping away from the snowmobile, unholstering a gun before taking just as much time checking it and chambering a round.

“That was a poor decision on your part Mr. Emrys,” Aredian said. “A very poor decision. We could have helped each other.”

“You’re not interested in helping anyone but yourself,” Merlin said. “Do you really think I’m so stupid as to not realize you were just going to kill me along with the dragons?”

“I must admit, I haven’t seen reason to have much confidence in your intelligence,” Aredian said. “An oversight on my part, clearly. Your little plan nearly worked.” Merlin decided against mentioning that Arthur’s intervention wasn’t part of some master plan to escape.

“Do you have a plan?” Arthur asked in a low voice. Merlin shook his head minutely.

Aredian leveled the gun on Arthur. "I'll get rid you of you first," he said casually, like they were having a discussion over tea instead of on the edge of a cliff in the middle of the night. And then it hit Merlin. The edge of a cliff Aredian might not know existed. "Then the Dragonlord."

Eyes never leaving Aredian, Merlin reached over and slipped his hand into Arthur's. Arthur's fingers squeezed so hard it hurt, but Merlin welcomed the grounding pain. Breathing slowly, he took the first step. Aredian eyed him suspiciously, but sidestepped along with Merlin.

"Even if you kill me there will just be other Dragonlords who will stop you," Merlin pointed out, hoping he could distract Aredian from pulling the trigger long enough to execute his plan. He kept moving, calm measured steps that carried him further away from the cliff while bringing Aredian closer.

"The Dragonlords have always feared me," Aredian dismissed. "Although I suppose murdering Balinor's son will make them more willing to overlook that fear. But what is life without a little excitement?" Arthur's breath hitched when he caught on to what Merlin was trying to do and his grip tightened.

"My father won't rest until you're dead," Merlin said.

"I look forward to the challenge!" Aredian’s smirk made Merlin want to punch his smug face. He finally stopped moving, Aredian positioned a few feet from the cliff. Then he hesitated. And that was his mistake. "Well this has been an enlightening chat," Aredian said, "but it's time we moved this along." His finger tightened on the trigger and panic wiped all previous knowledge of spells from Merlin’s mind.

The gun went off.

Merlin moved.

Arthur yelled.

Aithusa shrieked.

Merlin felt like he blinked and then he was staring up at the sky, Arthur's face hovering in the edge of his vision. He tried to push himself up, but found himself slumping weakly against Arthur.

"What-" that was when the pain registered. On his right side, under his rib cage. It was hard to breathe.

"It's okay," Arthur was saying. "You'll be okay. Just don't move, just don't-"

"Not how I imagined it," Aredian said and Merlin struggled to turn his head to look at him. "But I'm not opposed to a little more drama." Merlin distantly realized the weight on his chest was Aithusa when she bumped her head against his chin. Her claws gripped at his coat and there would be little tears in it, but as it really set in that Merlin had been shot he was grateful for her comforting warmth against him.

"Now, the decision we must make," Aredian said conversationally, "is how long to let you suffer before putting you out of your misery-" A roar echoed through the night, cutting Aredian off. Merlin looked at the sky, squinting until he could make out the shape of a dragon circling above them. The dragon dove towards Aredian and the closer it came the more Merlin recognized Menodora. Aredian fired off a shot. Merlin lurched up, instinctively wanting to protect the young dragon and lost all sense of time for a while when the pain of his wound overcame him. When Merlin finally blinked the spots from his eyes Menodora was on the ground between them and Aredian, wings flared wide in a feint to to make herself look bigger. Aredian didn’t fall for it. When he made to aim the gun Menodora abandoned her pretenses and lunged forward with lightening speed. Her powerful jaws clamped closed around Aredian’s arm, wrenching an agonized yell from his throat. It was too dark to get a clear view of the struggle. Merlin could feel Arthur’s arm tighten around him as they watched. Finally, Aredian got his arm back with a furious yank. Unbalanced, his good arm wind milled through the air as he staggered backwards. His foot landed on the edge of the cliff, slipped, and then he was gone. They listened as the echo of his scream bounced around the mountain.

“Well that’s one way to take care of it,” Merlin mumbled. Pain lanced through his stomach and he whimpered. “Arthur…”

“It’ll be okay,” Arthur said. His voice was shaky and when Merlin looked up at him he thought he could see tears on his face. “You’ll be okay. I’ll get you help. Just…here.” He laid Merlin down on the ground, making sure his head was resting on the hood of his coat. “I’ll be right back, okay?” Merlin managed a nod. His stomach was really starting to hurt now. While he waited for Arthur to come back Merlin tried to recall the healing spells his dad and Gaius had taught him over the years. Nothing came to mind though. All he could think about was that he’d been shot and he was bleeding and it hurt and they were in the middle of nowhere at night and there was every possibility he was going to die out here.

“Fuck.” Arthur was back. He knelt down and put his hands back over the wound. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! I checked both snowmobiles. How can neither of them have a fucking radio that works? Fuck!” He swore a bit more, sounding desperate and afraid.

“It’s okay,” Merlin managed to say.

“No it’s fucking not,” Arthur hissed. “Y-you’re bleeding all over the place a-and I-“

“I don’t want you to be upset…” Merlin’s eyes slipped closed. He was tired and, “cold…”

“Wake up!” Arthur snapped and Merlin started, eyes flying open. “Damn it, Merlin, don’t you fucking dare go to sleep. Everyone knows you don’t fucking go to sleep when you’re injured and cold, just-“ Merlin grimaced through the pain as Arthur moved him back into his arms. “You’re not allowed to die Merlin.”

“You’re swearing a lot,” Merlin pointed out.

“Yeah, well I’m angry. Angry and-“ Arthur swallowed. “Angry and scared,” he finished softly.

“Sorry…”

A large shape loomed over Arthur’s shoulder. Menodora made a mournful sound as she looked down at Merlin. Then she moved away and Merlin could see her crouching low to the ground from the corner of his eye. He felt her intentions.

“What’s it doing?” Arthur asked.

“She wants us to get on,” Merlin answered.

“What’s it doing?” Arthur asked.

“She wants us to get on,” Merlin answered.

“Can she hold our weight?” was Arthur’s next question, his tone highly dubious.

“She’s a lot stronger than she looks.”

Arthur lifted him up and Merlin bit back a cry of pain. Something must have slipped past though because Arthur paused for just a moment to press an apologetic kiss to his brow. Aithusa continued clinging to his jacket with all the force she could muster. Menodora held perfectly still while Arthur settled Merlin on her back, then climbed up himself. Her lift off was graceful, gentle, nothing like the way Merlin was used to seeing dragons shoot off into the sky. The flight itself was a blur. Merlin mostly remembered the stars, clear and bright and feeling so close to where they glided through the air, even though he knew they were light years away. He might’ve mumbled something about it to Arthur, he wasn’t sure. Then he blinked and Menodora was touching down in the dark parking lot of the resort. He really didn’t feel well. And his abdomen really hurt. He just wanted to sleep…

Somewhere above him Arthur was yelling. It sounded so far away. Maybe he was yelling for someone to bring Merlin a blanket because he was feeling awfully cold. But that was absurd. Who cared if Merlin was cold when he’d been shot? Everything was all muddled. He’d just close his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, everything would make sense again…

“Merlin? Merlin, listen to me, you need to stay awake! Merlin! _Merlin_!”

  
____________________  


Merlin woke up to a heavy weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and stared blankly at the white ceiling. The sound of a steady beep somewhere to his left confused him. What was going on? He moved his arm in an attempt to push at the weight on his chest and was distracted by a tug. He lifted his head and immediately hissed as pain flared through his stomach, but not before his eyes took in the IV in the crook of his arm and recognized Aithusa curled up on his chest. At the side of his bed a chair creaked, drawing Merlin’s attention. It took a few seconds to register that he was staring at his father.

“How are you feeling?” his dad asked gently.

“I got shot,” Merlin replied. It was starting to come back to him.

His dad smiled, relieved. “That you did.”

Frowning, Merlin brought his uninhibited arm up to rest along Aithusa’s back. She stirred and shifted, but didn’t wake.

“Her wing will heal and her claw will grow back,” his dad said.

“It shouldn’t have happened at all,” Merlin insisted.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“I should’ve looked after her better.”

“Merlin.” his dad’s hand landed gently on his shoulder. “Sometimes despite our best efforts these things still happen. She will be fine. Her claw is already starting to grow back and I’ve checked the tear in her wing. It won’t even scar.” Merlin sighed, unhappy, but let it drop. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d failed Aithusa.

Seeking to distract himself from the dragonling, he asked, “Where’s Arthur?” That was the last thing he remembered, Arthur holding him in the parking lot. Had he even come to the hospital? Merlin wasn’t sure exactly where he was, but he did know the nearest hospital was over an hour away by car. Maybe Arthur hadn’t thought the journey worth making.

“His sister took him down the cafeteria to get something to eat,” his dad said and something Merlin hadn’t even noticed loosened in his chest. “He’s hardly left your side.”

“Is he still mad at me?” Merlin couldn’t help but ask. His dad frowned.

“I don’t think so,” he replied carefully. “He just looks worried. Why would he be mad at you?”

“Long story,” Merlin murmured. He was so tired. He felt his dad’s hand in his hair.

“Sleep, Merlin,” he said said. “You need a lot of rest.”

It sounded like a great idea. Because Merlin really was very tired. So he let his eyes slip closed and drifted off.

  
____________________  


The next time Merlin woke it was to find Arthur seated at his bedside, gaze unfocused as he stared blankly at the wall. Aithusa had scuttled off his chest at some point to curl against his side. He brought his hand up to stroke a finger along her spine and she purred. The movement drew Arthur’s attention. He sat pensively in his chair, indecision warring in his eyes. Merlin wanted to reach for him, but wasn’t sure it would be welcome.

When the silence continued to stretch, Merlin broke it, voice cracking and wispy from his dry throat. “You came after me.” Arthur didn’t answer, but he did help Merlin sit up and take a few drinks from a glass of water. Aithusa stirred long enough to blink sleepily at them before curling back up and dozing off again. “You could’ve died,” Merlin continued, a bit more strength to his voice.

“You nearly did,” Arthur finally said. He sighed, combing his fingers through his hair. “God, Merlin…”

“What?”

Arthur breathed in, shuddery and broken. “I’m still mad at you,” he insisted. “For all those stupid lies. They were really shitty you know.”

“I know,” Merlin said, grimacing. “I just- I was afraid. Which doesn’t make it any better.” A beat of silence passed. “I’m sorry.” Arthur sighed.

“I could’ve lost you,” he said. “God, there was so much blood…and I couldn’t even come with you when they loaded you on the chopper. I had to drive here. Morgana had to drive here, actually. I couldn’t- I couldn’t stop shaking, I was so scared. I was scared I would get here and they’d tell me it was too late. That you’d died.” Arthur reached out and grabbed Merlin’s hand. His grip was almost too tight, but Merlin relished in it. “You never think about what you might be losing until it’s almost too late.”

“What are you saying?” Merlin asked. He had an idea, but he wanted to hear Arthur say it.

“I don’t know if we could actually work,” Arthur said. “God knows there’s plenty of evidence that we don’t, but Morgana tells me that’s just because we’re both stubborn idiots. The point is, I’m not going to spend the rest of my life wondering what could’ve been. So we’re giving this a second shot. But no more lies this time.”

Merlin smiled so hard it hurt. “No more lies,” he agreed. It probably wouldn’t ever be easy with them, but that was okay. They’d make it work.


End file.
